Hi folks, After speaking with Glenn and the boys in chat last night, I had a few questions and everyone was kind enough to answer them for me. I started on my new shop forge today. I currently use a two burner gas job and decided to build me a bigger coal forge to do some big stuff. Anyway, here is progress for today. Let me know what you think. Don't worry, I'm not thin skinned, I can take the bad with the good. I still need to fabricate the sides where the coal lays and build a hood of some type. I used a disc brake drum off of a six lug chevy pickup for thr firepot.

Thanks again for your advise here folks. You people are a great bunch.

PS: The beverage in the one photo is in there for scale. It was good though on this hot day in PA.

Edited July 13, 200818 yr by Smokeman
Forgot to add firepot information

Looks great!

Looks like a great start to me, that is similar to my shop forge, and mine works well.

hey what is your firepot made of? is it a real one?

Hi Sabre, the firepot is a cast iron disc brake drum off of a six lug chevy truck

Hey Smokeman pretty cool. nice to know your in the area too. I'm working on a similar setup but from a cast drain. 2" black iron t and pipe. I think it was frosty that had a good idea about an ash dump so I went to TSC and picked up a rain cap for an exhaust stack. I bought the 2 1/4" but I think the 2 1/2" would have been better. nice job.

Rob.

Thats a good idea piglet, never thought of the rain stack cover for the ash dump. I might have to look into that one. Thanks for sharing that information.

I was just down your way last week, went with the family to Turkey Point.

looks good ...I mighta used angle iron around the edges so you have a "box" so your coal dont fall over the place....otherwise cool

Nice and clean. Can't wait to see it finished.

hey i couldnt help but to notice but whats your tee fitting made from also yoyur flange..... they look like galvanised..... ifso becarefull of lead poisioning

I like the size of it. Seems to have plenty of working room.

I was thinking of that when I was putting it on Sabre. Galve will hurt ya. If I light this up outside, will the galve burn off ? I looked at three local stores for plain old metal T's but all everyone had was Galve.

Hey Fat Pete, hows it going buddy. Yes, I plan on boxing it in with angle. Still trying to decide on what hood I might use..

well when i went to get fittings for my forge i had to buy 1 inch because the rest were glav..... yes i am pretty shure it will burn off of a good hot heat but i would have good ventalation in your shop when your using it just in case that is dosent all burn off...

I have galvinized fittings on my forge, and no problems. As suggested be well ventilated for the first couple of fires.

I was thinking of that when I was putting it on Sabre. Galve will hurt ya. If I light this up outside, will the galve burn off ? I looked at three local stores for plain old metal T's but all everyone had was Galve.

Hey Fat Pete, hows it going buddy. Yes, I plan on boxing it in with angle. Still trying to decide on what hood I might use..

The tuyere shouldn't get hot enough to burn the galvy off. If it does, just walk away and let it burn.

While it's never a good idea to expose yourself to smoke of any kind, zinc oxide isn't nearly as toxic as rumor has it. It is in fact a necessary mineral, just not in large doses and certainly not inhaled.

That said, be careful anyway, keep clear of burning galvy but you don't have to panic, head for the hospital, call 911, etc. if you end up breathing a little. If you notice flue-like symptoms later that day or even the next don't get too excited. Drink plenty of milk to induce mucous production in your lungs and throat to help flush it out.

If however you feel sick a couple days later, your breathing feels heavy or your lungs start gurgling get to the doc immediately! It generally takes quite a bit of zinc oxide to produce a pneumonic reaction but a person never knows if they're super sensitive to one thing or another.

I've attached a Sketchup drawing of the ash dump on my coal forge. The vertical is 4" and the air supply is 2". It's what I had to scrounge at work, along with the cap. Heck, I didn't even take the cap off the pipe to make the thing.

Nice looking forge. Might I recommend a side draft hood for your consideration?

Frosty

very nice better then mine lol(the standard brake drum on cinder blocks, lol)

Many Thanks Frosty, I like that ash dump. I was thinking of doing a side draft also. Question, do I need fire brick around the pot or can I just throw the coal in the way it is. The plate is 1/4" thick. Thanks

Smokeman, Homedepot had a pretty good selection of black iron pipe if you wanted to swap it out. They'll cut and thread pipe too in the same section of the store if you need them to.

Now that I think of it though, I didn't see any black iron flanges, just galv.

Rob.

Edited July 14, 200818 yr by piglet_74

I prefer a refractory table of some sort, split brick is my favorite, easier to repair. No matter how thick (within reason of course) the table is, there's a chance it'll warp without some protection from the heat.

Strictly speaking it isn't necessary though, there are a lot of sheet metal pan forges that have been around for a century or so.

It's cheap insurance though.

Frosty