Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Steel wheel JBOD charcoal forge project


Recommended Posts

On 7/28/2020 at 12:47 PM, wirerabbit said:

My anvil edges are still too sharp. I will need to grind them with a wider radius at least on one of the two sides.

Do not grind on an anvil until you are certain that is the way you want it to be, forever.  You will NOT be able to put what you grind off back.

Instead get a piece of plate steel and attach it to the top of the anvil, either using a hardie post or a saddle of metal that hugs against the side of the anvil.  Modify and use this plate until you find the shape or radius you like.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/28/2020 at 12:47 PM, wirerabbit said:

 I could get a very nice bright orange which I thought was a bit too cool, but I was able to move steel.

Keep in mind that judging colors in the daylight is not always accurate. You're bright orange outside in the daylight may have been closer to a bright yellow in a dim shop. 

Pnut

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quick update:

I have received the DC motor speed controller and a quick wire up test was great. I grabbed an 18 v battery from a drill and tested things out. I'll post pictures and info soon. I seem to have run out of charcoal at the moment. I have purchased some mild steel for practice, so I should have a forge day here pretty soon. Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I'm taking them all to heart.

T, near Jeddo TX

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally received the parts I needed to wire up a controller for the hairdryer motor with fan. I sill need to wire something more permanent and mount the controller box to my new forge stand.

20200811_144021.thumb.jpg.c521bd24dbf31f6cf2886bec5cc1b8a3.jpg

The stand is an old Harbor Freight tool stand for a long dead router table. I found some cheap bearing rollers and welded them to the feet pads. I hope they hold up. In the shot you can see how I have run the air down and under the forge to the modified hairdryer.

20200811_144008.thumb.jpg.3087d89521f5e14b79a8c74dcd10040d.jpg

Here is the hairdryer next to the pvc pipe. It is just a friction fit. Next to the dryer is a 12v battery and my controller box.

20200811_144114.thumb.jpg.f90297d10b373aaacacf2de3739c7a1f.jpg

This is a close up of the controller I put together from a PWM, a weather-proof receptacle cover and a 12v battery. Here it is set to 100% power. At that speed the tuyere was blowing dust and ash from the empty firepot. Note in addition to the the speed control nob, it has a handy dandy on/off switch. I can set the speed  from 0 to 100 and leave it alone. The switch will allow me to cut off the air while I'm forging. Once the iron is back in the fire, I can switch on and the fan returns to my selected speed.

I have not had a chance yet to fire up the forge. Lots of things going on around here including a new concrete slab for my kilns and now forging things. I need to get a cover over it before I move things but until then, look at what I have for me to practice my forging with?

IMG_20200811_114334_607.thumb.jpg.4eb66f26c22d040c5228ee3c86693ba9.jpg

I'll update soon as I can.

Taylor, near Jeddo TX

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The motor controller worked great. My initial setting was at 70% of maximum speed and that had very little fire fleas dancing about. This session was to see how low of an air flow I could use and still obtain forging temperatures in a reasonable time. I finally settled on a setting of 40% using an 18v battery. With that setting, I was able to easily get the 5/16ths? bar to forging temperatures. Once I found my rhythm, it was easy enough to switch off the blower, pull the stock out of the fire, forge, return the iron to the fire, grab a handful of charcoal and toss on the top while I punched the blower back on.

1069360286_20200812_110149(1).thumb.jpg.ac19a2fb45f44e733b5a8c572793a38d.jpg

I still need to learn how the fire works, but to my eyes the bright hot portion of the fire is well below the level of the hearth. Not sure if that is okay or not. I do have the true iron a tad deeper that 4 inches in the pot.

When I cleaned out the fire, I raked all the coals into a bucket of water and the IFB at the blowpipe side was glowing. The opposite side was not. This may not have been the case earlier in the session, but it certainly was at the three hour mark.

My new fire rake pulled out the unconsumed charcoal and ash very easily. This morning I found very little ash in the pot.

I need to make a charcoal chopper next as my kindling hatchet crushes too much of the charcoal into dust. I want to maximize usable charcoal. A shovel of some kind is next and I may have to pull out the stick welder to finish that fire tool.

Hope to do some more forging soon. BTW, today was 103 deg F...in the shade.

Taylor, near Jeddo TX

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hour forge session today with some very small modifications to the forge. I had pieces of IFB at the ends of the forge level with the side bricks, but about 1/2 inches above the hearth. That makes sense as these bricks are 4.5 series. However, after cutting the end bricks down to make them level with the hearth, I saw little improvement. This session I heard the roar of the true iron less frequently and had to use the poker often to open the air back up.

The blow pipe is too low in the firebox I think. the bottom of the iron is almost at the bottom of the pot. It seemed that the heart of my fire was about an inch lower than the hearth and once I broke the rule and  placed my iron down at a very shallow angle, I was able to obtain a hot forging temperature. I was heating 3/4 inch round and trying to square it up to 1/4 inch before trying to make some s hooks. Nothing to show for all the work, alas, but I was able to bang on some hot metal nonetheless.

I put less charcoal onto the fire each heat from my previous forging days and I seemed to have cut the usage down by 50%. I was till operating at about 40 on the motor controller. Higher air didn't seem to actually help heat up the metal.

I think I will need to bring the iron up another inch, giving me about three inches to the hearth and see how that does.

taylor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I'm behind in documenting the forging sessions with this forge, but after my Aug 18 session, I dug out a vitrified chunk of the old earth fill from my blow pipe. At that time I still had a good amount of crumblies sitting on the top surface of the forge. Even though I replaced the earthen fire pot with an IFB fire pot, I may have inadvertently thrown in a clod of the old clay thinking it was a piece of errant charcoal. After that last forging session, I found a blob of over fired earthenware stuck to the IFB acting as the hearth stone. More must have made its way into the tuyere. That or some junk from the charcoal bag worked its way down the fire.

20200728_133029.thumb.jpg.16d4afd00bc732cc1ff0ece6da8291c8.jpg

Anyhoo, my air was being blocked and once the offending blockage was removed, I once again heard the petite roar of a well-aired charcoal fire. Next three forge sessions (~5 total hours) produced my first set of tongs. I have since placed slices of IFB along the surface to stop any more nonsense. Next iteration of this forge will have a cast pan, cast tuyere, and replaceable brick firebox. Alas, no longer a JABOD.

I'll post pics of the emptied fire pot and subsequent wear when I reach 20 hours of forge time. This is after 15 hours total forge time.

20200908_164325.thumb.jpg.2e87c9785490470727d90f6cc7e6ba1a.jpg

Taylor

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is your forge and you are learning to how it wants to do things.  Take notice of the flame and coals so you can recognize when things change.  Find the cause, fix it, and get back to forging.

Consider it a challenge and you and the forge will learn to work together. (grin)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Update:

Close to 20 hours on the forge so far and small incremental changes have reduced my charcoal consumption, increased the heat to my pieces, and allowed me to learn quite a bit about forging.

Some items of note are

  • I have started cutting my charcoal larger and the fire seems to be much more lively and heats stock better
  • Though the firepot is made to JABOD specs, sweet spot seems to be a bit lower that the hearth. Adjusting amount of charcoal and how I place my pieces have kept me forging. Will have to modify soon I think, maybe in 20 more hours.
  • Electronic blower controller is a great asset. I can set air for the job and just forget it. On/off switch makes things very easy.

Scale does not seem to be a problem as i initially thought. I don't see excessive amounts. I have had great luck with obtaining high heats without burning the carbon steel I am now working on (leaf spring and sucker rod) and the heat has allowed me to really move the steel.

I obtained another milestone in my forging journey. This batch of charcoal is popping just a bit more than normal and today I started to smell burning hair. I brushed my beard and sure enough a red-hot ember dislodged and fell to the ground. Check that one off the list too.

I will post some pictures next firing for comparison.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Another two hours of forging today. Wind was up, so I rolled the forge into the front of the garage. Got me out of the wind and allowed me to see colors much better. Here I'm preheating a tong blank while I heat up two spring steel bars for drawing out. I'm working on a nata for cutting charcoal and v-bit tongs for punches and hardy tools.

20201016_102001.thumb.jpg.a104abbef5978da8e56e291fc7fe5825.jpg

This forge likes the charcoal a bit bigger than what I starting out forging with. Now I am chopping to about 1.25" to 1" or so. Not fussing about it as much. While I started out having to send the poker down to the tuyere to open up the fire now and again during my first several forging sessions, I have not had to do that nearly as much these last two sessions with larger charcoal.

20201016_113342.thumb.jpg.b8873dbab953320d81c653cfd94ae366.jpg

I'm getting great energetic, but not blasting flames from the pile and easily bright yellow on the metal without having to really pile on the charcoals. I have started letting the coals burn down quite a bit before adding more charcoal, and I have not seen any deleterious effects on the steel (mild) or heats. 

The IFB continues to degrade. I removed a nice glassy green blob before I lit the forge today. Might have to enlarge the firepot and try a different refractory solution earlier than anticipated. Going to be fun.

Just a little bit of singed beard today. No worries, it needed a trim.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well we have 12 bookshelves in the master bedroom, 8 in the living room, 12 in the library. 10 in my study, 4 in the dining room, 1 in the guest room and a bunch in the other master bedroom now taken over by fiber and spinning equipment. The studio has several huge bookshelves. About the only place that doesn't have bookshelves in it is my shop...

The ones in the back of the picture are the two 8' tall bookshelves that flank the french doors between the living room and the library.

So far on this two day vacation we're at one used bookstore per day---so far.

(And to circumvent the questions about two master bedroom suites: our house was built in two parts about 2 decades apart.  So when the new owners built on they built a suite to  fit their notions.  We use the more modern one.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recall now, you have book shelves like I did before I got married and had to share floor and wall space. Let me rephrase my thoughts, I'd love a better look at the contents of your book shelves. No need for special pics, a focused background for other pics will be good. 

I AM a bibliophile if you didn't know, mine are boxed and take up a considerable % of the basement floor about 4' deep. Makes me sad to think about some of my serious references buried and no treasure map. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Holy Toledo! Has it really been four years? Wow, I knew all my forging tools were rusty, but I had no idea how long it has been. Good news: forge still works great!

PXL_20230928_162849789.thumb.jpg.d4f19945e06cfdd0fd40a9b5107189f4.jpg

Don't you love the smoke at start up? And check out those nice blue will-o'-the-wisps.

PXL_20230928_164119215.thumb.jpg.d3600fab00cc456f43bffd5bee102510.jpg

I fired up the charcoal forge to taper some one inch square bar hardy tools just to see if the forge could get that much steel hot in a reasonable time. It can. I preheated the other tools at the top of the pile to save some heat.

I pulled the tuyere, and you can see how the softbrick didn't like the expansion of the steel. I'll cut a replacement brick with more room for this next iteration.

PXL_20230928_190417898.thumb.jpg.ec6d6e8a95705e2c6a98bbe4e218f727.jpg 

I've provided a knockout for the tuyere pipe so that I can play with height and angle. At this point, I'm pretty much done with the earthenworks and will backfill with refractory cement or similar. 

PXL_20230928_191724173.thumb.jpg.1f8d638974f1d7531dfd5bf81d9a36c8.jpg

Thankfully I now have a two-burner propane forge to help me in the meantime. I've got more tongs to make and some product to develop.

Although my forge is no longer a JBOD in the strictest sense, it has been a very profitable learning experience, a simple forge to fire and ideal for modification. Looking forward to finding that ultimate charcoal forge.

T

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have made my latest adjustment to the forge. I have left the softbrick bowl, but moved the tuyere up two inches in the bowl. The pipe diameter has not changed (3/4 inch)  and the angle of the pipe has not changed (0 deg from horizontal). Here you can see the blow pipe pushed all the way in just for stability sake while I take a picture and decide how I will support it. Previously, it was captured by the hole drilled through the steel wheel and the rammed earth above it.

PXL_20230929_154313089.thumb.jpg.cc3c930122026424000107fa12a200d5.jpg

Replaced the cracked softbrick with a pair of half bricks and a small top brick. I'm hoping this will move enough to prevent cracking. Returned the native dirt fill for structure. In the picture blow you can judge the height of the tuyere in the firepot by where it currently sits against the far wall.

PXL_20230929_163224439.thumb.jpg.30cc4da37548dac6179b5982d76b8af7.jpg 

Here is everything in place. I used sand, local soil, softbrick dust, and charcoal fines to make the chinking I placed around the blowpipe. Pipe sticks out about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.

PXL_20230929_163647629.thumb.jpg.cc593e403091706669bdddd8fda02ae0.jpg

The alteration has moved the heart of the fire up (as expected) so that I can now sit steel in level with my current hearth. I continue to forge with 1 to 1.5 inch lumps of charcoal in the entire pot, so no charcoal fines bed as in a Japanese forge of similar shape. This does make placing the iron back in the fire less smooth than in a coal fire. The charcoal doesn't want to make way for the piece. Simply moving the charcoal back and away then pulled back in place works great. Here is a bit of rebar I'm working into a spoon for my case hardening project.

PXL_20230929_220410319.thumb.jpg.f9b681bd030795518b5f8e608521839c.jpg

Two hours (about) of forging and I pulled out the fire to check things. Chinking didn't blow out and the pot seems to be doing fine. Now I'll use this configuration for about 20 hours of forging and judge the results, but so far I'm really digging it. With the tuyere in the lower position, this kiln was heating up one inch bar with no problem. I can't wait to see how this tweak handles such big stock. I've got an eye punch and a monkey tool to make!

Now we case harden some guillotine dies.

PXL_20231001_184532047.thumb.jpg.30b96335a9c37a0cbdb43322de3cee86.jpg

 

PXL_20230929_221349623.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I'm now filling the fire pot to approximately one inch below the tuyere with charcoal fines before I start the fire with paper and my firing charcoal. The fines seem to allow me to move the fire back and forward when placing metal with less catching than before.

PXL_20231014_203656833.thumb.jpg.3d6b3ba78f377d6e47c7ca2ecc7862aa.jpgPXL_20231014_203708542.thumb.jpg.c34c709c1db31a932a5b11d00167265b.jpg

The fire after some long forging session. Notice the hot spot is closer to the tuyere on the left wall. I raked away the top of the fire to better show the hot spot. For now I will leave in the 3/4 inch tuyere, but enlarging the pipe might increase the hot spot and move it a bit further into the center of the fire pot. I estimate that I get a good 3 inch heat without moving the piece, which is plenty of hot metal while I'm still learning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...