A few months ago I asked theblackfrog about how he like his Diamondback forge.  After his reply, I nearly bought one, but got really cheap at the last minute.  I've been running low on creativity and motivation lately, so I thought building a forge would be a good idea.  

 

The internal dimensions of the forge are 4.25x9x4 inches with a 3/4 " burner.  Right now I'm running an 024 mig tip, but have 030 and 035 to try as well.  It is insulated with 2 inches of inswool covered with a couple of coats of Satanite and topped with ITC-100.  I shot the outside with some 2000 degree primer and will probably paint it red sometime.  

 

All in all it was a fun project.  I'm sure I will find plenty of areas that I would improve in the next one I build, but I haven't really used it beyond testing to see if it will work.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like a fine job :) Now post the next thing you make with it.

I got to use the forge this weekend. It worked really well. We started making a hot cut for the anvil I have at home, but didnt have time to complete it. It heated a piece of 1 1/4 " axle up pretty quickly. I think the best part was forging for a couple of hours without getting dirty. My dad is wanting build one now also.

I've definitely been looking into building one myself. My teacher had a kaowool lined propane forge that he taught me on and I have a basic brake drum forge that leaves me black from handling the lump charcoal. I enjoy the old school feeling of charcoal but I'm thinking a venturi burner or two in a cylinder lined with kaowool would be better for my applications.

I would definitely recommend building one. Read as much as you can before starting, it will save you headaches I'm sure. The tradeoff with building one of these and using what you have is time. The time I spent building this wasn't bad, but it does add up. All of that time could be spent forging. If I didnt have neighbors so close I'd have kept my rivet forge and if I wasn't feeling so cheap I'd have bought a gas forge.

Having finished this, my dad is wanting to build one too. He has a piece of steel tube that he's wanting to use, so this next one will be a little different. Like I said, I recommend building one. It was a fun project that seems to have worked out pretty well.