Mark III in progres

On 5/1/2018 at 3:33 AM, Charles R. Stevens said:

Mark III in progres

Whats changed in this design Charles? Looks like its not clay on the top anymore? Any photos of the inside of the bucket on this version?

This design is first set up to be portable, so lose fill and bricks so it can be dissasibled into easer to carry parts for demos second it is shallower to accomidate  the reduced blast of the manual pump. It heats just fine and will weld but it is slow generaly to heat as for fuel effecency and fire fleas one only comes up to forging heat. If one needs to weld bring it to forging heat and then pump faster to bring it up to welding temp. 

 

 

 

The loose fill is cheap cat litter (bentonite clay) as sand melts to form slag. 

 

 

Aha! Cat litter is an excellent idea. I might fill the rest of my box with that.

What happens if/when cat litter falls into the firepit?

For a non-portable forge, could you wet the cat litter and smooth it over the surface similar to your MK1 forge? I dont know how clay litter will behave when wet.

Bentonite clay expands when whet. The reason I used clay in my forge is that was the dirt under my feet. In your case sand would work as well, as the clay bowl would keep the sand from melting and forming Slag. As to the cat litter in the fire bowl, it vitrifies, and sometimes forms clumps (moisture from the bricks) no big deal. I could forgo all but the back 4 bricks in the mark III and just scoop out a hole. 

Would any of these items be sufficient to use as a stand for a jabod side blast forge 

Red cart should work. Can not tell what the other item is.

I'll second the red cart. 

You could hold it in your lap if you were sitting down.  You just need something that won't fall over or wiggle around too much.  The red cart would save your eyebrows over holding it in your lap while someone else used it.

I think they would both work. The first one looks like a cement mixing tub (may be a little large though).

alright thanks guys, the red cart has wheels too so it should work pretty good. By the way, the first one is an old cement mixing tub I think. 

The red cart gets my vote. Being able to move it around could be handy. 

The mechanics cart would be excellent, you may chose to redrill the leg holes to adjust the top to your anvil hight but it is a great base

The red cart is almost 3’ tall and it is 30 1/2” long and is 16 1/2” wide and the top is 3 1/2” deep. What kind of forge would be best for this? JABOD? Bottom blast? Side blast?

As you were talking about a side blast forge, then a side blast forge.

The cart is just a easy way to move it.

Either, depending on your fuel. It’s a box 3” deep. A piece of plate, kiln shelf or pizza stone to make the bottom more resistant and a brick, dirt or catliiter fill and you have a forge, now you can either cut a hole in the side and put in a side blast tuyere or a hole in the bottom and put in a bottom blast tuyere. 

So tell us what fuel you have access to and what you want to do with the forge. 

I feel, that it would be easier to make a bottom blast forge, but what ever you all think would be most effective for charcoal I might just do. I’m planning on using charcoal because I’ve seen videos of people making it and it seems easy enough. 

Charcoal does better in a side blast than bottom blast. Side blast is easier to build, too. 

So I would use some sand or dirt or kitty litter or mix and fill the bottom and try making a tuyere sticking out the side? 

Follow the plans already provided on the site. 

If I did a bottom blast would it be worth it to buy something like this off of CL? 

The side blast JABOD would be easiest to make and use. 

Take 30 minutes to an hour and build a JABOD at zero or low cost and get started. You can worry yourself into a coma trying to cross link all the options, and getting nothing done.

 

Ok, but the red cart is only three inches deep on the top? Wouldn’t I have to weld on higher walls in order to make it so I could put I tuyere coming out the side? And have the filling and charcoal on the bottom?

Tyler, there are many ways you can build a forge. You are going around in circles. Start with One proven design and get started. You can always build another forge later if you want but the key thing is to get Started forging.

 You mention starting with charcoal so start with the simplest design and build the box of dirt side blast forge as Charles suggests, using the red cart. 

What Das said.

In addition, if you find you don't like the side blast and/or move to coal it will not be difficult to transform that cart into a bottom blast forge later.  I'm another vote for keeping it simple for now and going with a side blast JABOD type forge so you can get started banging on hot steel.