I picked this cast forge a few months ago to be my shop forge. It has a trough on the front. Has anyone ever seen one like it and what is the trough for?

I can't see it being for coal as the bowl is big enough it could hold 50lb of coal in it. I had mentioned it being for water as a slack tub for small items and they mentioned that it should be rusted if it was for water.

The water made more sense to me.

I have seen them like that, my guess would be a place to put the coke you separate from that day, for the next days forging. Water would be no good, too shallow.

It is a water trough but that is not the front. Blower to the left, water trough to the right. Have one very similar that I use (and store) at the Iowa State Fair.

Water trough.

No rust just may mean it wasn't used as such.

Frosty

I have seen singles and doubles. The doubles held coal and water. The singles held whichever one you wanted more. There is an ad for Champion or Buffalo (can't remember which) floating around on the 'net which shows a double trough and each one is labeled.

Hey Steve,

Your saying the round part of the forge is the front and the trough goes to the rear on this one?

The fire pot will fit either way to bring the blower from right or left.

Trough goes to your right. On the one I use at the fair I drilled a 3/8" hole in it for a drain. I whittled a wood plug for it. Since I only use it eleven days a year it's nice to be able to drain it easily before I leave.

BTW, nice forge! I am sure you will be happy with it.

Edited July 15, 200818 yr by skunkriv

Got it. Thanks.

I have seen singles and doubles. The doubles held coal and water. The singles held whichever one you wanted more. There is an ad for Champion or Buffalo (can't remember which) floating around on the 'net which shows a double trough and each one is labeled.

Like this . . .

What is the year for the catalog?

Like this . . .

Bingo! I was hoping someone else had seen it.

That sure looks like the beast in which case that would be the coal trough.

Cool.

Frosty

Wish I only paid $55.00 for it. Would have been nice to have the blower also.

Wish I only paid $55.00 for it. Would have been nice to have the blower also.

That'd be nice alright, until you consider a competent smith of the era was probably making $3-5/day.

I get the same feeling looking through old Sears catalogs at smithing outfits. for a comparison, look at the Vaughans smithing outfits in their catalogs.

Vaughans (Hope Works)

Fun reading in either case.

Frosty

That sure looks like the beast in which case that would be the coal trough.

Yeah if you read the print it is designed to store wet coal.

What is the year for the catalog?

CWB - that is from the 1909 Champion catalog.

I like it. Thanks for sharing the pics.

First forge I ever used had a trough like that, it was a slack tub.
merry forging!

I know an old timer blacksmith in the southern tier of New York who has one of the champion forges shown in BT's link. He pointed out the trough to me one day at his shop and said "most folks think this is for water but its not, its for coal". Reading into that old champion ad confirms this and if you look closely, you will notice the trough labled for water is a separate piece made to hang on the end of the forge table. I guess the old timer really does know his stuff. Congrats, that is one beautiful find. Dan :)

I have used forges similar in nature to yours CWS. Larry Crow has one in his shop and I think Bill Printy has a couple in his school. I ( somewhere) have a tank only with hangers to place where you wish on the edge of a forge ( came with a Canedy Otto Forge ). Works well to keep wet coal seperate from hot forge table and you can forge a shovel to fit the trough ( facilitating mixing wet coal) or just make a spatula type tool to mix like a mortar hod. Congratulations on the find. I would like to find one like it. I have a large piece of tubing ( 1/4 wall probobly 6 x 8 and a foot long) that I made into a tank for holding wet coal. I have it on a stand beside the solid fuel forge and sometimes keep dry charcoal in it as well. The pic is a few years old but you can see the edge of the tank.

Edited July 16, 200818 yr by Ten Hammers

if its really rusted it had wet coal in it, coal and water make a corrosive mixture that often turns white when it dries. I have a seperate trough container I set on the floor in front of my little shop coal forge, the first trough was a fish cooker a customer refused to pay for made out of sheet iron, it rusted pretty bad, so I had a salvaged SS Y from an elevator that I made into a wet coal container and one end is at a 45 to make it easy to scoop out of and it don't rust, my wet coal shovel is also made out of SS. It was up to the individual smith whether he wanted to use the trough for water or wet coal.

It's the same shade as the rest of it. So it's probably just coal if it was used at all. Personally with the size of the bowl it just seems like a redundant part of the forge. You can fit an awful lot of coal in that bowl.