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New Side Blast forge with Supper Sucker Hood, First Fire


hdvoyager319

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This is the Mark Aspery design Side Blast Forge with the Super Sucker Hood first fire test. The Hearth is 2' sq. by 9" deep. The Tuyere is Antifreeze cooled with the top hot pipe and bottom cold pipe connected to the Bosh by 7/8" ID hoses. The Bosh holds about 12 gal. of antifreeze and is mounted to be above the Tuyere. The Chimney is a 10" dia. Grain Auger Tube that had been scrapped. 

This is a permanent size forge. My criteria was to make the components of the forge weigh no more than 50#. To meet the goal the Bosh had to be separated from the Tuyere and connected via pluming. 

At initial start up, the smoke and flames were directed into the hood by placing a piece of sheet metal over the fire and leaned against the hood. Once the fire heated the hood, the draft pulled the fire into the hood which further heated the hood and chimney increasing the draw.

The fuel was bituminous  "Basement coal" that was removed from an old house. The coal ignited easily with a  base of split sticks and ignited with a Propane Brush Burning Torch. The air supply was supplied by old Champion Blower and a 1/3hp motor. The Guillotine regulated the air supply along with using the ON?OFF switch. 

The coal was placed in the Hearth about 3"-4" deep over the wood ash bed both sides of the Duck's Nest. The Duck's Nest bottom is 4" below the center of the air outlet. The Hearth is filled with Wood Ashes which are tamped into a rather solid consistency. The Duck's Nest is 8" wide , 8" long and 6" deep. 

The green coal coked nicely but with a lot of smoke. Once the fire got hot enough, the smoke  ignited. Except at start up, the smoke wasn't a problem. The Supper Sucker Hood lived up to it's name by sucking the flames and smoke in and up the chimney.

The test item was a Twisted Damascus Knife blank.  By positioning the blank in the fire, small portions or the entire blank was heated. As you can see from the picture of the blank in the fire, I cover the fire hot spot with a piece of steel plate. This forms an oven under the piece of steel which concentrated the heat where needed. To work on the knife tang, the blade portion of the blank was pushed thru and out the other side of the fire hot spot.

The forge burn time was about 5 hours. Fresh green coal was raked into the fire as needed. Several sizable Clinkers formed below the Tuyere but it never interfered with the air flow or fire. The Bosh started to feel warm at the top but remained cold in the bottom 1/2 of the Bosh. At the end of the forging, the blower was turned off and the red hot coals raked out of the Duck's Nest. The fire went cold in about 20 min. Since the full was Bituminous coal, I was concerned that it would continue to burn consuming all the green coal. 

In conclusion, the Side Blast system outperformed the Bottom Draft Forge, especially in the clinker department. The forge has a small learning curve that must be mastered to be able to fully utilize its capability. The next test will bar forge welding.

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This is the Grain Auger Chimney with a flat sheet Top Hat.

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The flames being sucked into then Supper Sucker Hood 

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This is the Cold Antifreeze pipe coming out the bottom of the  Tuyere

 

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This is the Hot Antifreeze coming out of the top of the Tuyere.

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The Supper Sucker Hood positioned above the Heart    

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This is the Blower system. The long silver flex pipe can be removed to cleat clinkers out of the Tuyere. also, the forge will be equipped with a Hand crank blower which will be connected to the Tuyere by redirecting the flex tube.to the hand crank blower.

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This is the Bosh. The Hot antifreeze tube is seen. The Cold tube is connected to the bottom of the tank. There is a drain faucet which is part of the bottom cold tube.

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This is the test knife being heated under the piece of steel plate. 

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View of the Guillotine air control, the rear od the tuyere, the Hot Antifreeze pipe, and the fire in the Hearth.

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These are pictures of the forge as I have it set-up. You will get a much better idea of the forge.

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This is a view of the complete forge. From left to right, the blower, Bosh, hearth and hood/chimney.

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This is the Supper Sucker Hood drawing smoke at the initial lighting of the fire. The hood/chimney system has a significant draw.

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This is the duck's Nest, Tuyere to the left and hood to the right.

The fire stays close to the air inlet. The hearth is filled with coal. As the coal is consumed,  I rake the sides of the hearth to put more coal into the hot spot. I think that I may not have adequate depth to the fire. Next time the coal will be heaped higher against the air inlet. From most Youtube videos, Coke is the fuel of choice. I am burning Bituminous coal. and some Anthracite coat from Tractor Supply.

When the air is shut off, the fire dies out quickly at the end of the blacksmithing session. I just rake out the red hot coal from the Duck's Nest and then remove the clinkers. If there is only one advantage to the Side Blast Forge, it is the clinkers don't interfere with the air flow, No clinker Problem!!

If anyone has suggestions on using the Side Blast Forge please send me your comments and suggestions. 

Are we having fun yet?

Paul

 

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