I have been looking for almost an hour for blueprints for the 55 Forge and its variations. I have looked through the blueprints section and did a google search for this site. Ever link I ran across doesn't work. I just happen to have a 55 Gallon drum laying around to use but I was looking for a little more detail on how to construct it than I found in the original post. 

I want to build a bottom blast but I'm curious about the Supercharged as I haven't been able to find anything specific about that one. 

Look at the following links please. Roll over the edges of the forge or fold a piece of metal and cover any sharp edges for safety.

 

  

 

 

BP0133 The 55 Forge

Cut 4-6 inches off the bottom of a 55 Gallon drum. For bottom blast, cut a hole to accept auto exhaust pipe, and put a piece of 1/4 inch rod through the pipe at both act as a grate and to hold the exhaust pipe in the drum. Weld a T in the exhaust pipe to air to get into the pipe and plug the bottom of the pipe to direct the air up and into the forge.

The grate on the 55 forge is nothing more than a 2-1/4 inch piece of auto exhaust pipe with 2 pieces of 1/4 inch mild steel round bar placed into holed drilled in the pipe. You can modify the forge by adding a brake drum or rotor but that is not necessary.  Notice the cone shape of the ash and the bricks to shape and deepen the fire.

For side blast, lay a house brick on edge and cut a slot in the side of the drum, folding the cut section as a flap onto the brick. Insert a 3/4 or 1 inch pipe across the brick and about 1/3 into the diameter of the drum.  Use bricks or mud to control the size and shape of the fire.

 

The original 55 forge WITH the supercharger attached. Revised version has an arched opening. This photo shows the forge placed on 55 gallon drums as a stand. The opening is 16 inches wide (revised version) 4 inches below the 2nd ring and 2 inches above the bottom of the drum. This is a much smaller window than is shown in the photo and works better. Put the forge on cinder blocks or what ever is handy to hold the forge at a convenient height.  The second drum (the supercharger) acts as a chimney and greatly increases the draft. 

The 55 forge is basically a pan forge or rivet forge just using the materials at hand. The 55 forge is just a place to start. Modify it as needed to fit your needs. A JABOD just a box of dirt is the same basic idea just using wood instead of a 55 gallon drum. 

 

 

Thanks Glenn, Thats what I was looking for. I am still trying to figure out what I am going to do, I have a few ideas.

Question Glenn, I read in a post on here somewhere about a bucket of water under the supercharged 55. Could you tell me a little about that? Is the bottom of the blast pipe just submerge to seal it for air and catch anything that falls from the forge?

The 5 gallon bucket of water is positioned so that the water covers the open end of the ash tube to where the air does not bubble out, about an inch or so. Any ash that falls through the grate falls down and into the water. No more dumping the ash out ever so often.  The only down side is after a while the bucket fills up with ash and is almost too heavy to carry. 

One more newbie question. I think every other home made forge design I have seen has fire brick and/or some kind of refractory in it. From my reading I get that the fire would stay in the rotor you used since that's where the air is being fed in at... but it still seems like that rotor would get really hot. What's the determining factor on if a refractory material is needed in forge construction? 

Refractory material is unnecessary in a solid fuel forge. Mineral dirt (i.e., subsoil) or cat litter will do you just fine. Read the JABOD threads for a discussion of the basic ideas. 

With the 55 Forge an inch of ash will insulate the pan so there is no need for clay etc. If you want a smaller fire, or deeper fire, bricks can be used to build a wall to hold the fire inside.