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I Forge Iron

Seeking advice for a "new to me" forge


Mark F.

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Hello,

I'm extremely new to blacksmithing, having just begun dabbling this year, but I've found this site extremely useful in terms of answering questions and such.  With that said, I've probably been a bit over zealous in acquiring things before I have a lot of experience.

I'd started out with a JABOD forge, but I came across a forge and blower for sale that seemed like too good a deal to pass up.  From reading other people's posts on this site I've come to realize I probably need to "clay" the forge as I believe it's cast iron.  I'm posting this in hopes of getting some feed-back to see if I'm correct.  I'll also apologize up front as I don't have much, if any, experience with on-line groups and forums, so I'm hoping this post is in the right place.

Assuming I've successfully attached a picture of the forge, the firepot is removable, with the front and back lips being level with the table top; however, the sides of the fire pot are slightly higher and have a lip that protrudes out over the table top, leaving a gap between the fire pot and the table top.  If I'm correct from reading other posts that I need to "clay" the forge, would I need to clay the table top, or just the fire pot?  I will go back and re-read/search for more information on claying, but since I'm already asking for advice, can I ask here how thick a layer of clay I should be aiming for?

My assumption is the forge originally had a clinker breaker, but as is the throat of the air intake (is this referred to as the tuyere in a bottom blast forge, or is that a term only in a side-blast?) is just a round opening.  I fabricated a grate, but in hindsight I think I made it too large, thus making the fire pot too shallow.  It will be an easy enough fix, but this leads to the question of whether I would put the grate in place prior to claying the fire pot (essentially fixing it in place), or clay the fire pot in such a way that the grate sits on top of the clay?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.

Mark

2021-07-01 - New forge - smaller format.JPG

IMG_1991 - resized for IFI.JPG

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I’m not sure how well that grate will work for you. I just replace the clinker breaker in my Buffalo forge with one from centaur forge. Not not the same design as the original and a little smaller, but I seems to be working quite weld.

I have not seen anyone lining a cast fire pot with clay, and I can’t really offer advice on claying the forge pan itself. My first attempt at doing so was pretty dismal and just picked up some more clay for a 2nd attempt.

David

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Welcome from the Ozark mountains. To answer your first question, yes the cast iron pan does need to be lined with "clay" to prevent it from cracking. There are several threads about that.  The clay doesn't need to be refined like pottery fire clay, any old river bank clay or just plain dirt up to the raised lip of the firepot will work. I agree with Goods about not lining the firepot and if you are able to weld it's easy to fabricate a good firepot from steel. I have used this design and it works very well. The tuyere air supply term is for both side and bottom blast forges.

Bob Patrick Firepot

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Hello and welcome to the forum! 
 

I just followed everyone’s advice on here and I made my forge liner using everyone’s ideas, 

I used red dirt clay right outta the driveway after a heavy rain, an I was able to get quite a few pounds ruffly 20-30 pounds with no gravel, i then smashed up 5 or 6 wood stove fire bricks with a hammer, then I used about half a five gallon bucket of wood ash out of the wood stove, 

i mixed it all up really good and packed it in the forge, I let it cure for a week and I had a few cracks because it was a little moist when I lined it, but it’s worked perfectly so far, I can get the metal to white hot in the forge without even effecting the paint I put on the forge, so I’d say the liner is insulated pretty good and I didn’t have anything in it but time making the liner

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