Shamus Blargostadt Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I'm thinking of fabricating the forge in this video. I was wondering on some vet thoughts on the design of the firebricks and the firepot location in relation to the chimney. Most coal forge's I see in videos have the firepot in front of the chimney. This is the first time I've seen it in front.Do you guys/gals think having the firebrick around the pot is helpful? How about if the bricks lined further up to the front, so the firepot was surrounded in the back and sides?the only problem I'm thinking is perhaps it will be harder to tend the fire, removing clinkers, etc..the break drum I have is slightly larger than this one in the video, probably by 2"dia. I also have enough firebrick to come to the front. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't making a mistake before launching this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 that is a brake drum forge. If you can weld you can make your own fire pot. The one good thing about this forge is he has the brake drum attached under the surface of the forge making it easier to rake in coal to the fire. you do not need the fire bricks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus Blargostadt Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 yes i have the break drum forge part built. it's propped up on cinder blocks. I took to heart the advice of folks here to consider a chimney. I don't know how to weld but a buddy says he has the scrap i would need to make this and I know a guy who will quote on fabrication and welding it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 What I think Frances is trying to say, is that if you can weld up the forge table, you can fabricate a better forge pot. Break drummsare mediocre fire pots at best. As Frances points out, the fire bric isnt necisay, and despite its cool factor it will be coverd by coal anyway, use sheet steel. I do like a table with a brick top next to the forge to lay things on (cool factor and heat resistance)as to the hood, it has cool factor, and it shades the fire for outside/daylight work but it may get in the way heating large/odshaped items. Such as a patualy assebled grill. The side draft hoods (the ones that set beside the fire) draw extreamy well and are out of the way, I have seen Alldays and Onions side blast forges that, and I think the side blast is a bettor set up. All that said, you have the fire pot built from a break drum already, ash from the coal, or a bit of clayed soil will make a ok slope/bowl out of the square sided drum, and if its to big? Again just use mud to line the drum and make the bowel the size you need. As to the forge shape? As long as you want the cool look and understand the limitations, it should work. Google image shearch will turn up the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus Blargostadt Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Thank you very much guys. As always, greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus Blargostadt Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 All that said, you have the fire pot built from a break drum already, ash from the coal, or a bit of clayed soil will make a ok slope/bowl out of the square sided drum, and if its to big? Again just use mud to line the drum and make the bowel the size you need. As to the forge shape? As long as you want the cool look and understand the limitations, it should work. Google image shearch will turn up the original. Charles - The break drum I have is about 13.25" internal diameter (top) and about 5" deep. If my air is coming in from the bottom, are you saying the pot should look more like the drawing on the right, below? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 , Somthing like that, the ash will colect and naturaly do that. 13x5 may be a bit big, but that is easy to rectify, experiment and see just how big a fireball you need, if the heart of the fire is to deap you can switch to a bullet grate and again ash will colect and take care of the deapth ( take a 2" black pipe cap and drill a 3/4" hole in the middle, add the aproriate lenght of pipe nipple. To long can always be cut down) the other advantage of a bullet grate is that the slag flows down around the cap forming a "donut" below the air sorce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus Blargostadt Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Thank you again Sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Just paying it forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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