Building a Forge

[Toyman01]

I dug through the steel pile and built this yesterday. It's not pretty or perfect, but it will be a place to start. 

Still to build and install is the blower system. The parts for that and 100 lbs of coal should be in this week. I also need to put legs on the left side.

[MotoMike]

Not a coal guy, but it looks pretty good to me.  

 

[Toyman01]

I got this finished up this past weekend. Nothing special, just following some internet suggestions. 

The underside of the fire pot showing the air inlet. I'm going to have to change out the rubber connector. It got hotter under there than I thought it would. 

Ash door.The gray cloth looking thing is a sheet of lead to keep the door shut.

The blower I used is too powerful. Even with the speed turned all the way down, it still blows coal and ash out of the pot. I'll be changing it out for something else.

Variable speed control for the blower.

The first firing. It gets hot enough to melt steel. I guess that's good enough. 

[Charles R. Stevens]

What is your anvil hight?

I am 6’2” and usually wear 2” riding heals. My anvil and forge are at 30”. This keeps one from having to lift stock up and down and  one to use the other as a stock stand for long stock. 

[Toyman01]

At the moment it's about 35" to the face. In doing some reading, for my height it should be more like 30"-32". I still have to build a permanent stand for it. That's next on the list. The forge table is 34" high. 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Depending on your skill and class of work from first knuckle to wrist. High. I recomend cutting the drum down to the same hight as your anvil. 

Further you can store extra fuel on the table (the dip in the drum head is a good place) coal is resistant to fire spread. A sprinkler can will deal with what little their is.  Having th extra fuel to “bank the fire” against is helpful in fire management.

[Toyman01]

Skill is zero. As it is now, the anvil feels too high. I need to build up some muscle in my hammer arm, so I really can't tell if there is a height problem or I'm just weak. I'll play around with the heights before I build a permanent base.

I've only tried making something once and it was a failure. At this point I don't even know what it is that I don't know. 

Thanks for the pointers. I'm sure I have some more questions.

[Glenn]

Anvil height   Anvil height, how can you tell if it is the right height 

For the forge reverse engineer the height. Locate the sweet spot in the fire, about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up the fire ball and make the table top around the fire pot at that level. That way you can lay stock flat on the table and it is automatically at the correct height for the fire. Use what you have and add a pallet or platform to stand on and try out different heights until you find what is a comfortable hand hold height for you. Try it for a while before you adjust the forge permanently to that height.

 

4 hours ago, Toyman01 said:

The blower I used is too powerful. Even with the speed turned all the way down, it still blows coal and ash out of the pot. I'll be changing it out for something else.

Disconnect the fan from the air pipe to the forge. Leave an air gap between the two of about 3 inches or so. Aim the blower more directly to the air pipe for more air, and less directly for less air. This becomes an infinite air adjustment and you can choose what works for that fire.

[Toyman01]

Glenn, thanks for the link. I had read a good bit on setting the height but using the plywood sounds like a great plan. 

Good thought on the blower as well. That way I can leave the more powerful blower in place in case I need more air for a future project. 

Thanks again. 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Viking are Smith’s used 1 1/2-2# hammers, I am a farrier, and in my day job use a 2# and forge with 2-3# hammers in the shop most days, the 4 pounder comes out for a few heats some times but it’s not my all day hammer by any means. Most hardware crosspeins are 4# and just to much for the beginning smith. 2# ball peins are easy to find cheap, tractor supply carreis a decent 2# rounding hammer (about $50) you can order 2-3# crosspeins or buy 3# double jacks from harbor freight and grind them to shape ( I have a set with very wide peins acualy 1/2 rounds 

[arkie]

Toyman, to control your air supply, you might also consider using a air gate/blast gate. The sliding gate will adjust the air volume. There are some you can buy commercially or you can make your own.