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I Forge Iron

New forge build


cere19

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Just started making my forge today, I'll be taking my time while building it. Today I made my fire pot which is 11.5" x 8.5" and 3" deep. I always like looking at others builds so I will try to update this as I build it. Need to keep my eye open for a hand crank blower, otherwise I'll be making everything else myself. Going to be using coal from the local guild that I took my beginner Blacksmith class at.

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Thanks for the suggestions for the clinker breaker. I was leaning towards one but that just solidified it. I was thinking along the same lines by cutting a round hole and then putting the handle right at the top of the tuyere. Just need to figure out what size to make the tuyere now.  Also need to figure what type of material to make the clinker breaker out of and how big to make it.

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Without having it in hand, hard to tell about the price. If it spins without any bad noises or skipped teeth on the gears $150 isn't outrageous. Because it's missing the stand I would haggle with him about it $75 would be a lot better. Stands can be easy to fabricate.

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51 minutes ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

haggle with him about it $75 would be a lot better. Stands can be easy to fabricate.

Thanks Irondragon I was planning to try and get him lower on the price.  I didn't even realize it was missing the stand which is a good point.  Does anyone know what model this blower is?

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I was thinking 98 was the year it was made as in 1898. It looks like a larger size blower. Looking at pictures of Buffalo blowers on the internet the smaller blowers have a fixed length for the crank handle. Where as this one has an adjustable handle length.

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Well I bought it for $120,it's heavy and spins pretty well. One thing I noticed is the fan blade has play in it because it was hitting the inside of the blower case. I split the case last night and the fan blade shaft has some play where it goes through to the gearbox. I took the handle off as well and pulled the gear case cover. Both sides had a lot of old pretty dried up grease, I'm going to work on cleaning it up and see about getting it apart. I have a couple screws as well as the fan blade stuck on the shaft. I will be using pb blaster and giving it time to do it's thing to work it's way in. One thing I did notice is both on the fan blade where it mounts to the shaft as well as a part in the gearbox they are both missing a set screw to hold them in place. I'll take some pictures as I have more time to work on it.

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If the shaft runs directly in bore in the case without bushings, and they are oversized by wear, I’ve polished the shafts and used the smallest drill that would true the bore in the case. Used brass shim stock rolled into a bushing to fix it. Another one was really beat, I drilled it ou to tak a standard sized bronze bushing.

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I got it all apart today and got all the old grease cleaned out. I think it was worked on before because 2 screws for the gears cover were hex head. Also on 2 of the shafts it looks like they used shim stock to take out any slop. Overall it appears to be in good shape and should go back together good. I also noticed one of the fan blades was closer to another fan blade so I bent it back slightly too make the spacing even, it might've been bent enough towards the outside that that was the noise of the blade hitting the case.

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  • 2 months later...

I've made some progress on my forge in the past couple of months, here's some pictures of the updated progress.

 

I was able to drill a 2-1/2" Diameter hole in the bottom of my firepot as well as the piece of plate of my tuyere that will bolt to the bottom of the firepot.  I also drilled and tapped 4 holes in the bottom of my firepot for the tuyere to be bolted up from the bottom.  There's also a picture of my tuyere welded up, you will see there's a slot I ground in the tuyere mounting plate.  I'm going to run a piece of 1/4" round through there for my clinker breaker handle.  My clinker breaker will be one of the hole slugs that I drilled out and ground down for approximately 1/4" gap around the outside of the clinker breaker to the edge of the hole in the bottom of my firepot.  I need to make brackets and fab the ash dump at the bottom of the tuyere next time I work on it.

Holes Drilled 2.jpg

Holes Drilled 3.jpg

Tuyere 2.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 2:58 PM, deletemyprofile said:

what type of coal r u planning on using?  

I just checked your profile out. Are you talking Kens custom?  I'm there in February!  

I'm planning on using coal from the local guild, they have a pile at the school of horseshoeing that I took my intro to Blacksmithing Class at.  I looked at Ken's Custom for classes but they were filled up and I wanted to start learning right away.  Maybe in the future I'll head up to a class up there.

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  • 1 year later...

Wow this project got put on the side burner while building a house and now getting back to it.  Hopefully I have it up and running shortly and not another year and a half break.  Got the basic shape of the forge stand built and bolted the tuyere on.  I need to finish the clinker breaker which will be attached to a rod that goes thru the channel I ground out in the tuyere's top lip.

Forge.jpg

Tuyere.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Worked on it today and believe it's ready for it's first fire.  The blower puts a good amount of air up into the pot thru the tuyere.  You can't see it well but the 1/4" round rod coming down just above the ash dump handle is the clinker breaker handle.

forge.jpg

forge 2.jpg

tuyere.jpg

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OK now stick a "dummy workpiece" into the fire pot and hold onto it as you crank the blower.  So how does that work for you?

I'm right handed and so crank with my right hand so I don't have to change out my tong holding hand---much faster and easier to grab the hammer handle on the way to the anvil than mess with tongs! You may also be working the piece with the tongs, pushing it in and out to have a wider hot area, rotating it if it's a billet for forge welding, etc.

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Ditto what Thomas says. You can learn a lot about and modify things without lighting a fire. Cranking the blower with your hammer hand is a valuable bit of advice.

Thinking about modeling the layout without lighting a fire has me thinking about doing it before I cut the first piece of steel to build it. You've put a good looking forge together even if it's not laid out the way I'd prefer but that's a matter of experience and taste.

Frosty The Lucky.

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On 11/5/2020 at 10:56 AM, ThomasPowers said:

OK now stick a "dummy workpiece" into the fire pot and hold onto it as you crank the blower.  So how does that work for you?

 

On 11/5/2020 at 1:01 PM, Frosty said:

Ditto what Thomas says. You can learn a lot about and modify things without lighting a fire. Cranking the blower with your hammer hand is a valuable bit of advice.

That's good advice from the both of you, after reading the responses I went out and tested it out.  Troubles is I'm left handed so I use my left hand and setup the blower to crank with my right hand.  Thing is though the blower itself I feel is designed for right handed people and feels goofy to crank with my left hand.

Edited by Mod30
Trim quote.
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