Another new forge builder

[Erich Syzygy]

Hello!

Another new smith arrives, and seeks advice on a new forge!

I have a forge a lot like what Mike started a new thread about recently. You can find an example of it around page 8 in the gallery, "First Forge". I mangled some rebar passably well until it self-destructed. One problem is that the bowl cracked from the edge to about 2/3rds of the way to the center.

Prowling around the junkyard, I found a rusty, used Crown Verity BM-60 grill. It's basically 2' x 3' x 3" tray on wheels. Here is my plan:

Take the bowl (tuyere?) and tie the crack together with some steel stripping and bolts. It's in good shape otherwise, the bowl doesn't wiggle or move when I hold it. I suspect that the banding will do little more than assure me that I've done something. Then, I cut off one bracket underneath the bowl so it can sit flat in the grill. A hole is cut in the grill to run some black pipe down for air intake and ash output. I have 4 hard firebricks that I can place in or around the bowl to give me a bit more depth. Air will be a hair dryer with a dimmer switch piped to a T-joint in the middle of the black pipe.

That will fill up about half of the grill. I don't know if I should put come clay in any of it, on the bottom of the grill perhaps to make the bottom more durable to shock? I'm also thinking about putting two bars of flat stock that run the length of the grill to give it a bit more strength. I would like to anchor the bricks somehow. If I put them outside the bowl, I could anchor them in the clay, but that wouldn't really add any height.

Photos to come.

[Erich Syzygy]

And here are the pics:

Here is the grill:

The bowl:

Some black piping:

The concept:

 

[Frosty]

That sounds like a fair plan. I have a couple suggestions though. I'd cut a hole in the call it forge table large enough for the fire pot to sit down in it and rest with the rim an inch or so above the table. Sitting flat on the table is okay but leveling it with clay/sand mixture will insulate it from ambient air so it will get much hotter in use. With most of it below the table it will be in open air. Make sense? I recommend the same for using brake drums for fire pots. And frankly I don't care for fire pots except in some circumstances but that's just my taste.

Your tuyere looks good in concept but will work better if the upper section is shorter, say 4". The bolt flange connection is perfect. It will need an ash dump on the bottom leg and that flange is just in t he way unless you make a swing gate type dump. My preference for ash dumps is a semi truck exhaust flap cap. They simply clamp on and the counter weight holds them closed. If you mount them so the counter weight faces your working position you can easily reach under with whatever is in your hand and flip it open to dump the ash, clinker, etc. if it starts to plug up. Occasionally coal gasses will build up in the tuyere and air ducting and when a little fresh air or a spark hits it it can explode. If you get a big pop this ash dump simply opens and clears your tuyere for you rather than blowing your fire out of the pot. Keeping a metal pail with a few inches of water under your ash dump is a good policy, every time you dump ash there's a good probability you'll be dumping burning materials with. Better safe than sorry.

I think you have the beginnings of a very nice forge and remember my suggestions are just that, suggestions and reasoning for doing things that way, not rules. I'm primarily a gas forge guy.

Frosty The Lucky.