Paul Kin Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Hello all! I figured its time to join the community so I can give back some! I’m new on here but I’ve been browsing the forum for years and have always been able to find anything I’ve needed. I love it! So a bit about me, I have been swingin hammers for about 15 years on and off whenever possible. We are finally settled down for good now, as my wife and I have worked for years to achieve. I’m a full time sawyer so I have an unlimited supply of scrap wood. So I decided to build a forge that can burn it strait to save the time of making charcoal. I have looked at every wood fired forge online that I could find and built one out of the scrap bin at work. It worked awsome! I even made some damascus with it. In fact, I almost stuck with it. But then the itch came.... I had to improve. So I started putting together the mk2 in my head. It had to be side blown, adjustable air, trench style, and noooo leaks! And boy did it work out well! So here are some pics! Thanks for looking! And I wasn’t sure where to put this post so feel free to move it.. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kin Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Oh dang... I meant to put this in the general section. Sorry! [Mod note: this thread has been moved to the Solid Fuel Forges section.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 That's probably the best wood fired forge I've seen. If you send a report and tell the mods you mistakenly posted it in the wrong forum I bet they'd move it to the solid fuel Forge or the introduce yourself forum. Welcome aboard. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kerr Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 This looks great Paul, and excellent for people who have a ready supply of scrap wood like yourself. I'm amazed you managed to make damascus in it- you must have your fire management down to a fine art! When I had a charcoal forge I struggled to heat large objects and certainly wouldnt have been able to reliably heat and pattern weld. Shame the pictures are sideways- its hard to see whats going on. Do you have any sketches of your final design? Might be handy for anyone trying to replicate in future. I assume its fed with blower air from underneath and the large pipe out the back and up is the flue? Many people have a ready supply of scrap like pallets etc. In a well ventilated place this would be great for forging with cheap (free!) fuel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kerr Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 I know that the Vikings+Franks pattern welded swords using charcoal so the issue was certainly with my design/set up rather than the fuel! Congrats on your design since its working so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 I haven't done any pattern welding in my charcoal fueled jabod but I've been able to achieve forge welding temps pretty consistently. Especially after I got a real blower. I didn't say forge weld consistently because that would be overstating things. Hopefully when I rebuild it I'll still be able to get it hot enough. I'M changing it a little so we'll see. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 As coal didn't come into use for smithing in western Europe until the high/ late middle ages, (Gies & Gies "Cathedral Forge and Waterwheel"), and both the Japanese swords and Javanese Kris's were forged using charcoal even to modern times; I would have to say that if someone has an issue with using charcoal to pattern weld it is with the design of their set up and personal skills. One common mistake is trying to use charcoal in a forge designed for coal; it doesn't work nearly as well as in a forge designed for charcoal. Note commercially *smelting* with coal, actually coke derived from coal, didn't take place in Europe until the 1700's with Abraham Darby's success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kerr Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 42 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: if someone has an issue with using charcoal to pattern weld it is with the design of their set up and personal skills. Absolutely- thats what I was trying to say/clarify in my second post! .... its still a fair achievement in design and fire management (skill) in my opinion. So my congratulations to the original poster still stands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kin Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Thanks everyone! How do I send a report? Is it the little flag icon? Sorry, Im new to posting in forums and only have my iphone, no computer. I have no idea why the pics ended up sideways. The first 2 pics are the scrap bin mk1 forge. I switched to an electric blower in the middle of making the damascus because it was -15°C out and I was down to a t-shirt and sweating! When using wood you are actually using charcoal. Its actually quite easy to accidentally burn up small stock like leaves and such! You just skip the step of making charcoal batches. It takes me about an hour to make 10+ hours of fuel. I use a chainsaw to buck slabs into 1-3” chunks then a hatchet to cut them up. 1”x2” is what I shoot for. Its a good mix between good heat and efficient fuel consumption. I actually dont have any sketches... I usually dont plan like that honestly. I know I should but I’m just not good at doing that. I just form a plan in my head over a few days and go with it. But I will try to get some measurements over this week for you guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! 48 minutes ago, Paul Kin said: How do I send a report? Is it the little flag icon? If you move your cursor over a post or a comment, the words "report post" should appear in its upper right corner. Click on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Good Morning, Paul Welcome to our world. The world where nothing is new, just being rejuvinated. I can't remember the name, but there are wood fired Forges that one of the members of the North West Blacksmith Association (NWBA) brings to the Spring Conference in Longview, Wash. NWBA web-site is www.blacksmith.org , there may be information on it in the web-site. When I was a teenager, my Forge was a wood fired furnace. At that time, I didn't know anything about adding a blower, but it worked. I have a few friends living in the Telkwa area. Enjoy the Journey. Neil Gustafson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kin Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 JHCC thanks! I think its reported properly now... I did have a look through there quickly but I will read through it thoroughly asap! swedefiddle, are you talking about the Whitlox forges? Thats what I very loosely based mine off of. And hey if it gets steel hot, it’ll work! I really like my current set up but it will be to risky in the summer months with sparks. It has such a good draft that sparks go flying out the chimney! You know people in Telkwa BC?? Cool! Its kind of a bigger small town at about 1500 people so its not well known I’ve found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 I'm not a fan of the Whitlox design as they don't seem to support the depth of charcoal needed to get a good reducing zone needed for a lot of work. ("The Mastery and Uses of Fire in Antiquity", Rehder mentions needing a fire depth of about 12+ times the mean diameter of the fuel to get a good reducing zone for a bloomery for instance). But I expect we will see a lot of knock offs of the Whitlox by others thinking it must be a good design as it's being sold. (I guess they never experienced the Yugo...) I much prefer the Tim Lively "washtub forge" myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kin Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Agreed. Thats one reason I built the second forge. My fire had to be huge when I wanted welding temp. The new side blast is much more fuel efficient and is always hot. I have the air blowing at an angle downwards like some do with propane forges. My idea is to keep oxygen off of the work peice as much as possible. Heres a rough sketch of it: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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