hdvoyager319 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Smelting and forging iron was invented in Africa thousands of years ago. On Youtube, I watched several primitive African smithies forge steel. The anvil was a rock, the hammer a piece of axel and the forge a simple Side Blast design laying on the ground. The Tuyere was aimed at the fire and terminated short of the charcoal fire. In another smithy, the tuyere ended behind a mound of clay. The clay had an air hole directing air to the burning charcoal mound. The English Side Blast Forge has the Tuyere terminating in the fire. As a result, the steel or iron Tuyere must be water cooled so it doesn't melt. However, if the Tuyere followed the primitive African design, the Tuyere wouldn't be in contact with the fire. The entire water cooling system would be eliminated. Has anyone built a side Blast Forge with the tuyere protected from the heat of the fire by stacking firebrick between the tuyere and the fire? The firebrick would be stacked to provide an air hole to the fire. A mound of clay could substitute for the firebrick. The Duck's Nest would still be required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) Look through the jabod threads. My forge is a night stand filled with clay soil with a trench dug into the clay and a three quarters inch pipe coming into the side of the trench. It doesn't stick out past the clay. Pnut Edited September 30, 2019 by pnut couldn't resize pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdvoyager319 Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 The JABOD forge design forge appears to be very close to the African primitive forge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Yep, a hole In the ground lifted up to convenient height. The African forges I've seen are usually two mounds of clay or termite mounds with a stone or clay pipe in one side for the air. I tried posting a picture of my forge but I couldn't resize it. Pnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 African, Asian and vicking era forges were all part of the background reserch I did for the simple side blast forge ( JABOD) project. This combined with build and modify to test my understanding. You will also find illustrations under side blast forge design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Thanks Charles those are some of the pics I was thinking of. The jabod is a proven design for sure. Pnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 These are some of the pictures of forges from Iron Age demos I found during my research. I beg all of you to keep pushing simple side blast forges as a viable altunitive to the more complicated and all to often more costly brake drum forge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdvoyager319 Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 Charles, Your forge nailed the design perfectly. The only difference is then African forge used inner tubes for the bellows and your forge isn't setting on the ground. I am delighted with your response. Are you burning coal or charcoal? Have you ever used the forge inside? If so, was the smoke a problem? Charcoal would eliminate objectionable smoke, however it will make a shower of sparks with a strong blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I have built and used both JABOD and water tuyere forges, and they have their advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage of an earth-filled forge is the problem of clinker build-up adhering to the forge; the biggest advantage of the water tuyere is the ease with which clinker can be removed. JABOD forges are cheap and easy to build and use, and I don't hesitate to recommend them. That said, now that I've switched to an English-style side-bast, I wouldn't go back to a JABOD unless I had to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 32 minutes ago, JHCC said: The biggest disadvantage of an earth-filled forge is the problem of clinker build-up adhering to the forge I use charcoal most of the time so I don't have problems with clinker. When I use anthracite on the other hand there is some clinker. I'd like to have a go at a water cooled side blast. Can't do it right now though. Pnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 4 hours ago, pnut said: I couldn't resize it. Resizing pictures is relative easy. After putting the picture into your post, double click on it and a pop up appears showing the size. I use 500 for the width and tab over to the height, which will automatically fill in the height as long as the keep original aspect ratio is checked. You can also resize pictures when in the edit function, but only have 30 min to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I keep trying but my phone doesn't show those options. It's old. I even tried posting a pic earlier and resizing it but deleted it when I couldn't do it. When I double click on the picture it only shows four options. I'll post a screenshot of the edit options in just a few minutes. Pnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 (edited) I can't capture the edit options. I think I may have to resize in my phones gallery. I double clicked on the pic and I guess I messed around long enough it turned it in to a thumbnail. I didn't pick any options though. Go figure. It started at more than a Meg and is now about half a megabyte. Pnut Edited October 1, 2019 by pnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdvoyager319 Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 Is this cured clay? Does the air come in thru the trough at the top of the picture or does the air enter thru a clay mound to the left that isn't in the picture? As soon as the water cooled forge is finished, I am going to build a portable JABOD forge. However, my thoughts are to use 2200 deg F rated fire bricks to contain the fire and provide an air entrance by stacking the bricks accordingly. The hearth will be a used SS Sink placed on a stand. That way, the bricks can be positioned to make the Duck's Nest Yesterday, I burned a huge brush pile. I went over today to remove some wood ashes to line the Side Blast Forge. The pile is still red hot charcoal. With luck, the rain that is forecast will put the coals out. Then I will have ashes for the Duck's Nest and hopefully a lot of charcoal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Seal the coals in an airtight container, so that the fire will go out and not turn them to ash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Its hard to see but there's a pipe in the wall on the right side about an inch above the bottom. It's just clay I dug straight out of the ground and filled the box and let dry. I did however flatten out the top and use a red brick on either side. The two little mounds started to crack off so I removed them. Pnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 I use both coal and charcoal. Tho as John mentions clinker sticks to clay like glue. Using innertube for belows leathers is an old trick and. Good one. Goat leg open top belows as well as pot belows were prety common in Africa as well. As to ground forges, like most westerners I was raised with chairs, so squating is not comfortable, ad to that poor choices in my youth that have left me with arthritic knees and degenritive disk deisese, and that’s a big nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Poor choices in my youth gave me occasion tinnitus. On the other hand, poor choices in my wife's youth gave her me, so there's that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 For what it's worth, I've used sand and ash in lieu of clay for a few years. Wet everything down to form it so there's a depression below the tuyere, then light the fire. Even if the clinker sticks to the ash/sand, it'll still come free very easily without caving the whole deal in. The other advantage of the ash/sand liner is that I can unload everything into a bucket for easier transport/storage. My next forge will have a knock-down box sitting on folding steel sawhorses. I plan to make a wooden frame with a steel lip so long stock doesn't burn it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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