Scored an old forge! I'd love feedback.

[Peter R]

I've been sharing my beginnings in the hobby with friends and family, even had a few sales (yay!).  My wife's cousin who lives nearby spotted some blacksmith stuff for sale and alerted me.  Short story - I have an old forge and other goodies, but with this post I wanted to share the forge! 

Please see the pictures below and tell me what you think.  It looks cast iron and has gone through an owner or two who have let it collect dust without use.

A few Qs:

1) I don't see any labeling except on the blower.  Is there a proper name for this forge (or a good guess?)

2) should I line the pan, or at least close to the tuyere?  

3) there are a lot of gaps where the tuyere meets the pan.  Are these areas where weld material has failed? Should I address that somehow?

4) since it's just a flat pan with no "fire pot", any basic recommendations for shaping a fire?  I have both lump charcoal and bituminous coal and would like to play around with both.  My first thought is using some fire bricks to shape as needed.

5) the sliding ash gate needs attention.  I should just replace that with a weighted flap, right?

6) any further suggestions or thoughts to get it ready to fire up are greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

[ThomasPowers]

1: It's a champion forge; check out old champion catalogs to find what they called that model.

2: Cast iron forge pans should be clayed to help prevent cracking.

3: That was bolted and not welded. You may need to make a mending plate to snug it back up and then you could clay any openings or use refractory cement.

4: The claying should take care of creating a ducks nest for the fire.  You will need to add a grate.

5: Yes, No, Maybe! I've used a swiveling ash dump lid for about 30+ years on my coal forge; never saw the need to convert to a weighted flap.  Of course mine has a longer dragon headed lever to adjust it with.  Nice thing about  swivel lid is that if you ever use an electric blower it can be adjusted to help control the blast.

6: Don't get fixated into trying to make it perfect before you use it a lot and decide what you like and what you want to modify.  Do clay the bottom to help prevent cracking!  I wonder if the holes on the rim were from a sheet metal windscreen?

[anvil]

As for how much fireclay. Look at the top pic and you will see a shadow line where it had been clayed in the past. It's level with or slightly below the cutout. Look at some pics of firepots and sculpt it to match. Do a Google for centaur forge and check their catalog for firepots.  The clay around your firepot should be in plane. This enabled you to run long pieces into your forge, heat the middle, and get no slump in your work and still have plenty of room for coal.

Nice forge. I have a similar forge I got years ago. I cut out the pan to fit a centaur forge rectangular firepot. It's my primary forge setup to the day 

 

[Stash]

Thomas pretty much covered things. With regard to#5- easy fix would be to unbolt the flap, file flat and re-install the flapper with a longer bolt, and a small compression spring. That will keep the flapper pressed firmly to the bottom of the tuyere. Make whatever kind of pull-it thing you want.

Steve

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

It looks to be in good condition and resembles the Champion Lancaster # 142 or 143 in this catalog.

https://ozarktoolmanuals.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfcatalogs/Champion_Blower_Forge.pdf

[Peter R]

Thanks for all the info so far everyone!  Thomas as usual big thanks I think you've responded to me every time I've asked beginner Qs.  Iron dragon that's a cool catalog.

For claying the pan, what's the recommended product?  Pottery clay?

Thanks again!

[ThomasPowers]

I used to use clay from a local creek. (Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico)

[anvil]

Also fire clay. You can get it from fireplace stores, hardware stores, and pottery stores as well as on line. Make sure it will handle forging temps. Usually if it's fire clay for a potters kiln, it will work.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

If you can't find fire clay you can make your own. I have made it for my coal forge and it has been in use now for about 20 years. I used kaolin clay and sand 3 parts clay 1 part sand by volume, just enough water to mix it stiff but holds together.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/12291-home-made-fire-clay/

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/21170-mixing-fire-clay/

 

[Peter R]

A few weeks taking care of family put the forge stuff on hold.  I picked up a bag of fire clay and below is the result from yesterday's work lining and creating a little bowl for the fire. Rim is a few inches high (hard to measure exactly, but probably 2.5-3 inches) inner diameter at the widest part at the top is about 8 inches, going down to a 5 inch diameter tuyere grate.  I hope I've done it right "enough" to make it usable - with the pan as shallow as it is this was the shape that seemed to be close to what I'd pictured.  We will see how it looks with a few days of drying.

Does it look usable?

I'm thinking I'll let it dry a good bit before use, but maybe in a few days light up a small wood or charcoal fire to speed up the process a little (unless that is a bad idea?)

[Buzzkill]

Have you thought about how you will rake more coal into the fire?  Normally you want the surrounding surface to be about level with the top of the "duck's nest" if using that configuration so that you can continually rake coal up to the sides to coke as the fuel is consumed.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but you probably don't want the rim of your fire bowl higher than the cutouts on the sides of your forge.  If you can clay the entire pan up to or nearly up to the height of the cutouts and then just scoop out a 6 to 8 inch bowl down to the grate you'll probably be in good shape.  I think you'll be a little frustrated in short order with your current configuration.

[Peter R]

I think you're right, I'm going to clay up the whole pan.  Problem with the cutouts is they are super shallow, the added height of the grate almost comes right up to them.  While the cutouts are probably useful somehow, I think for now I'm going to add height over them.

[Goods]

I would try it out before doing a whole lot more. As a general guide line you want 4” of coal above the air inlet an 2” above you steel. You don’t want to have to angle your stock down into the fire. If you find you the fire ball is running higher, then build it up. If it’s too low now, you’ll have less clay to remove...

I my forge, I run both coal and charcoal and everything seems just right for coal, but the fire ball is about 1 1/2 lower with charcoal. Working with the fire ball too lower, I find very annoying.

David

[Frosty]

The pass throughs in that forge pan are so low because that type forge isn't supposed to have a fire pot.  It's supposed to be clayed maybe 1-1.5" deep though 2" WILL work. You leave a shallow bowl shape to expose the air grate and that's the forge as she's designed to be used.

I personally very much prefer a duck's nest forge they let me shape and size my fire as I wish for the job at hand. I stand fire brick on edge around the grate, usually about 4" between them to form a "trench." I can block the far end to make a nice tight little fire, say coffee mug sized. Or I can spread it out and heat entire shovel blades. 

Of course that's just my opinion everybody's mileage varies and usually wildly. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[bluerooster]

As mentioned before, I would probably clay up to the cut out, then scoop out a depression at the grate.  You can mound the fire, to get it as deep as needed. And can easily rake the fuel into, or out of, the fire.