Ddrew84 Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 (edited) I am very new to black smithing I and am just looking for some tips and mabey to meet some local Smith's to learn from that said As of right now I have a 2" pipe feeding air in to a tunnel that blows through a 4x4" iron grate all that is at the bottom of a 8x8x4" hole (I am using this as my fire pot) I have 2 brick pavers I am using as sides( to block wind and contain heat) with a cinder block on top( block is mostly for stability of pavers but also seams to help contain some heat) I have an area on the back side that I have dug to the same level as the top of the pot I use to store charcoal that I was thinking would be good for cokeing up the coal I am using my wife's old 3 speed hair dryer duct taped to the end of the pipe. I have thus far only used hardwood charcoal in it but have gotten 2 40lbs bags of arithracite nugget coal hopping it will not burn quite so fast. I was hoping to get some tips on air flow control and also the 3 areas of the fire Edited April 2, 2020 by Mod30 Resize large photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 You have no hole for the fire. Everything seems to be above ground. Take a shovel and dig a hole in the ground. Reduce the air pipe to 3/4 or 1 inch diameter and place it a couple of inches above the bottom of the hole. Add just enough air to get the fire burning to produce the heat you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 This is the same concept just raised to waist level so you don't have to bend over or kneel down. Pnut. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/44842-just-a-box-of-dirt-or-a-simple-side-blast-forge/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 First dig a 16” deep hole to stand in and then build your forge from the spoil. Cement block and pavers will break down pretty fast so I would not use them. Lay peal back the turf, lay in a piece of 3/4” schedule 40 pipe at a slight down word angle (5 degree or so) now form a mound of dirt with the tuyere sticking in the side and then another 4” across from it. A little mound at each end of the trench formed to hold the stock in the center of the fire is useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ddrew84 Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 9 hours ago, Glenn said: You have no hole for the fire. Everything seems to be above ground. Take a shovel and dig a hole in the ground It is hard to tell from the pictures but everything is below ground I have a hole that is about 1' deep with a 4x4 grate about 3" from the bottom and my pot is about 4"deep tapering from 4x4 to about 8x10 I have an old roder from my car I was thinking of buying to use as the base of my fire pot but wasn't sure about using it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Rotor? Not needed in a pit forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ddrew84 Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said: Rotor? Not needed in a pit forge. Didn't know if it would help at all 20 hours ago, Glenn said: Reduce the air pipe to 3/4 or 1 inch diameter and place it a couple of inches above the bottom of the hole. Add just enough air to get the fire burning to produce the heat you need. Are you saying to switch from a bottom fed to a side fed. Also what should I use to reduce amount of air flow I have been trying to think of different ideas. I am also doing this at little to no expense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Yep, side blast. And just get a 3/4 in. pipe to use for the air supply. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Well for my trench forge, (needed to box fold some 3/8" plate for a firebox for the Santa Maria replica), I was using a shop vac as the blower. I forged a couple of 1/4" steel staples to hold the shop vac exhaust hose and the pipe to the tuyere in place on the ground---I just left a gap between them and how concentric I made the openings controlled the air flow. Another method is to take a hack saw and cut a cross ways slit in the air pipe and slide a tin can lid in it to control how much air gets by. Duct tape around the exposed sharp edge please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 What I found funny was how complicated I made something that's as simple as it gets. After I got the first jabod working though I figured out how simple the concept really is. I had a hard time believing it could really be that easy but to my amazement it was. I think that's the problem a lot of people have. They assume it can't be thaaaaaat easy. Yep,it can. ;-) Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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