well i am going to cut the hole for my side draft hood today and bring my forge home....all i need to complete it is the firepot and i am still waiting on it... but thats fine because the forge i have now work fine i just needed an upgrade for when i move.

i need to know how big does the hole need to be? (in the hood)

should i put an egsuast fan in the chimney because whnever i come in from forging i awlys stink ( i currently dont have a hood...my forge is inder a tarp) and have to shower..i forge once a day so i get really smelly wile i am out there... i hate it when your laundry basket smells like the coal bin and the firepot combined!

is there any info i need to know about it...

I don't know anything about the hoods so I would suggest doing an internet seach on them. You could probably find one that would be compatable with your forge so you could use the measurments off of it.
Oh! You'll get used to the smell over time. Smells like sulfer, or discharged blacksowder. I like it!:o

ya i dont mind the smell either but my dad does!

IMNSHO the area of the hole in the hood should be equal or less than the area of the chimney. For example if the chimney is 10 inches by 10 inches (= 100 square inch area), the hole in the side draft hood should be no larger.
I have a 10 inch round flue on mine which I figure is somwhere around 78.5 square inches. I made the opening in my hood 8 inches by 9 inches which would be 72 square inches.

Here is a pic of mine in action.

Edited August 12, 200817 yr by BT

BP1048 Side Draft Chimney

This is a picture of one of the forges in the guild I belong to. We have 8 in our school. We use a standard firepot from Centaur forge with inside dims. of 8x10 The cut out is roughly 10" wide, the length of the firepot. The height is also about 10".

An exhaust fan in the chimney will work but not necessary. When starting the fire put some newspaper into the draft box and light it preheating the chimney with an upward flow of hot air that will start the draft. While that burns, light your firepot and use low to med low airflow to bring the coal to temperature.

I understand about the coal smell. My wife can not stand the smell of the coal, so I'm always being told I stink. The hood and chimney won't help with that. You'll still stink.

Actually the height is about 14". Still drafts very nicely.

Gee Reb, you look a LOT better than I imagined!

Frosty

I have put on a few pounds and a little hairier now.
Actually that is Becky Little from Nova Scotia, Canada. She was one of our demonstrators for Blacksmith Days along with Dorothy Stiegler last year. Becky was in the forging competition in this picture.

Make sure the height of the chimney is adequate as this affects the drawing power.

Used to have a slogan when we had an open day at the forge, "See hear and smell the blacksmiths",

Brings back memories for many of the older generation who can remeber blacksmiths shops when they were young.

The Blacksmith's Journal #25 has a very good set of plans for building a side draft hood. Also The Anvil's Ring March 1979 has a set of plans. They both are calling for about 10" wide by 10 to 12" tall with a 10" to 12" chimney. I use a side draft hood patterned after these plans and all the smoke goes up the chimney even without a fan. I smell at the end of the day but not from coal smoke. I even have to clean the hood out every so often because it sucks all the ash into it also instead of going into the shop.

Edited August 14, 200817 yr by mtforge

My advice is to cut a large opening first and then use a seperate piece of metal for the opening. This way you can start with a bit smaller hole and work your way up to what works best. It's a little un-scientific.....but then again, so is blacksmithing.