Hi folks, I've only ever used bottom blast forges but I've just finished restoring / fabricating an old water cooled side blast forge given to me by a farrier mate. It was well and truely kaput and I had to fabricate 90% of it from scratch, (hood, hearth, back bosh and water cooled tue), except the angle iron frame which thankfully was salvageable and served as a template. The old cast iron brackets the back bosh sits on were okay too so I'm re-using them. I have fabricated the tue and bosh as one piece and didn't taper the tue so I can slide it forwards/backwards for the optimum position, though I'm pretty sure I've fabricated it to a sensible length which allows the bosh to sit about 2 inches away from the back of the forge on the cast brackets. (I will shim under the bosh to tilt the tue downwards to avoid air gaps).

I've left about a 2.5 inch gap between the bottom of the tue and the hearth so I'm planning on buying some 1 inch thick fire bricks and putting a couple layers of them down, then a skin of sand. The only thing I'm unsure about is the breastplate. I do have access to 20mm plate which I could cut into shape and bolt in position, or my other idea was to tack weld a few short lengths of angle iron vertically to the back of the forge, then slide a layer or two of fire bricks down into the channels. Which would you go for? I replaced all the sheet work on the forge with like-for-like so the back sheet is 2mm. As that's quite thin I'd imagine there's potential for that to distort over time if there's not some protection in front of it as I'll be banking coke up against it. The distance from the front of the tue to the back of the forge is approx 1 foot.

Like I say I'm new to side blast forges so any tips from the experienced users would be a great help. Cheers.

 Joel: you've been here long enough to know we ain't going to believe you without a picture or two.  Sounds nice . . . but.

Frosty The Lucky.

Taking these today reminded me I've got to cut the excess off the bolts and make a couple bracing straps to tie the top of the bosh to the back of the forge. It's weight is being carried by a bit of angle (that can't be seen) but I think it needs a bit more load spreading. I've made the side cut outs the same as they were before but I'll see how things go & maybe tweak.

Might consider 1/2 bricks or a peice of kiln shelf for the bottom. 1 1/2" is a bit tight. Is that mesurement from the tuyeer hole or the bottom of the watter jacket? If its from the water jacket then full brick is good, but you may have to shim. Nothing worse than slag getting under the tuyeer. 

Hi Charles. To be honest I can't remember what my dimensions are/where they're taken from, but to avoid clinker building up under the tue (and to generally shape the fire) I'd planned on skinning the top of the fire bricks with sand.

It is a little annoying but drilling fire brick with cheap concreate drills and would allow you shape and exact surrounding. Patch the gaps with any available clay ore even moist kitty litter

Relis I'm on the wrong side of the pond, but I have been disecting side blasts for a coulle of years, and experimenting with them. 2" of brick is usualy put in the bottom to keep you from diging down to far when cleaning it out and building a new fire, about 1" from the brick to the bottom of the tuyeer hole. The deapth from the top of the tuyeer hole depends on the tuyeer hole size. The cooling jaket usualy touches the bricks. 

Two bricks are usualy enugh, providing a 8" square. 

Joel, just a thought but what about insulating bricks rather than fire bricks. They would probably do a better job at keeping the heat away from the bosh, which is the idea as I understand it.

If not I'd just go with the easiest option - some 10mm plate and an air gap.

Andy

I was out installing some work yesterday and didn't get a chance to measure up so today I'll measure the distance from the bottom of the tue to the hearth bed. I know I made the tue hole 1" and the outside jacket is 3" outside diameter, but I can't remember the exact distance I left from the bottom of the tue to the hearth bed.

Good idea on the air gap, Andy. I'll probably use a layer or two of 1 inch thick fire bricks in the end as they're only £55 for 30 online. 9.5" x 4.5" x 1". I'm sure I could find a use for the leftovers.

Your going to have a pile of sand and ash between the fire and the bosh anyway, somthing like brick only keeps us from geting silly when we are cleaning out the duck's nest. If you let the tuyeer extend out into the fire it picks up way to much heat, keep it back out of the fire. honestly old clay brick will work, or adobe/daub. I think its classic to line the back wall and most of the floor with brick, just to take up space and duribility, but as slag sticks to brick, fire or otherwise sand and ash overthem is just about manitory. 

I have a side blast I built several years ago based on Mark Aspry's plans. There is a thread detailing the build on here somewhere. At any rate I would not bother with the fire bricks for the back of the bottom. I think the front of the tue is far enough away from the back that it will not cause problems. The you also want some room under the tue for clinker to build up. If you put brick and sand right to the bottom the tue will become clogged with clinker very soon. The clinker will also end up stuck to the fire brick and you will have to chip it off. I set mine up like it show in The Blacksmith Craft with coal dust filling the pan.