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I Forge Iron

Getting set up


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Hey all, I am trying to get back into smithing after about 15 years. I wanted to share some photos of my setup as it currently is. I am still working on building my forge hood and installing ventilation. 

Feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions or comments!

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Forge is looking good. A few suggestions, a flap cap on the ash dump will make your life a lot easier. Also consider the pass through of your forge. As it is you are blocking the other side with the wall. If you just forge small stuff it isnt much of an issue but if you go to forge longer stock further in youll have to lay it across the longer section on your forge table and might not lay in the fire how you might want. 

Space is always the restricting force. 

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Howdy from eastern Oklahoma and welcome to the forum!

x2 on the flap gate!

If your gonna be forging with coal sometimes the gas builds up an it’s nicer to have it blow down an out then up an at you,

Also if your gonna use coal I’d make the openings a little larger on the tuyere grate,

but if your gonna be working with charcoal it’s probably perfect! 

the only other thing I might change is swap the plastic tube for metal, just Incase a hot coal gets down in there an makes a smelly melted mess 

other then that it all look pretty nice to me!

Did you fab the sides of firepot outta angle iron? That’s a neat idea I don’t think I’ve seen before!

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I'm with the others. Move the forge away from the wall and turned so the narrow end is facing it but several feet away. A minor observation on the anvil stand. To me the extended feet would be a trip hazard, of course I'm a little clumsy and when carrying hot steel I don't want to bump into anything.

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Welcome aboard, glad to have you. I'm going to add to the suggestions made already with some variations. If you use a longer nipple on the horizontal leg of the tuyere it'll get the plastic pipe farther from potential HOT stuff. If you put a steel bucket under the ash dump to catch burning coals and hot clinker you won't have to worry about that particular fire hazard if gasses POP in the tuyere pipes. 

Once you rotate the forge 90* to make the pass throughs accessible to use and get the fire farther from the wall I strongly suggest a better fire shield than sheet metal sheathing. I'm a big fan of cement backer board mounted on stand offs, it's made as a fire barrier as well as holding mortar well. I simply used the backer board trimmings as stand offs. All you need is an air space. I attach the stand offs to the backer board by running the screws through till the points are just showing which makes holding the backer board in position on the wall pretty darned easy and you don't have to hope you're screwing through the stand offs. Make sense? 

Double ditto on the foot extensions on your anvil stand. A shop is a B A D place for more trip hazards than you can avoid. Try screwing the stand to a piece of plywood with the outer edges beveled. It's not perfect but is much less likely to hook your foot in passing.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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Thanks all for your input. 

 

To answer a few questions: 

-the fire pot and the table are both formed out of sheet steel. I work at a metal fab shop and they built it for me when I gave them a design. Fire pot is 1/4", formed and welded at seams. Table is 3/16ths" and is formed/welded.

- I will be burning Charcoal. 

- I hadn't considered putting the short end against the wall... That may be a good option. Awesome!

-regarding the air hose: i probably should put an extension on the T to get it farther back, thank you. Regarding ash dump: I will, probably in time, swap the cap for a flapper. 

- regarding fireproofing etc. So far, I have just used on-hand materials to build most of it. Some things will be swapped out over time. 

- Re: anvil stand: I haven't had any issues with it YET, but i suppose it could be a hazard. Never considered that. 

I appreciate everyone's input! That is what these communities are for!

 

 

I am working on my smoke hood/flue/spark catcher. This is what I have so far:

I will be venting out with stove piping. 

Does it need to be right above the fire pot? 

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Because a forge has a much larger output, both in heat and in combustion products. A 6" diameter flue does not move enough volume to fully exhaust all those combustion products (CO, CO2, soot, etc).

If the flue pipe you got is the kind that comes flat, rolls up, and is fastened together at the edges, you may be able to put two 6" sections together side-by-side to make one 12" diameter section.

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That makes sense. I did buy the flat roll stuff, so I can double up. Will need to return some elbows and such. Going to have to have a serious look at if/how that will affect my setup before I do anything. 

Thanks for the input. I just did a bit of a dive into the forums for a bit more info. 

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Well I'd go the opposite---I commonly stand by my forge at a distance where I would be burning by my wood stove!

However, you can debate why things do or do not work; but the 10" flue does work where the 6" doesn't.  Empirical proof trumps theoretical!

Is that blower at a good height for you?   Easy to adjust and having it at a good height for *you* makes a big difference in using it for long sessions.

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If you run the stack horizontally straight out the wall and turn it 90* up, use a T rather than an elbow one arm up the other down and put a section of stove pipe straight down on it. That way when you first light the fire the cold air that can block the flow in the stack will flow downwards and out the bottom while the first warm air can flow up and outwards unimpeded. That way you won't get smoky start ups or have to prime the stack with a wad of burning news paper to get it drawing. 

What surprised me about that stack was it didn't suck warm air out of the room if there wasn't a fire going like a chimney will. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Now is every one takin into consideration he’s planning on using charcoal?
NOT bituminous coal

I’m not the expert by no means but I do have a lot of experience burning wood and have never had an issue with 6” pipe drawing wood smoke in years, 

I’ve had forging temps running with over 100 pounds of burning hardwoods an hot coals on a regular basis, wood smoke is much lighter than coal smoke

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Thanks everyone for your continued input. 

 

-Blower is at good height for me.... For now. I reserve the right to move anything around as I see fit once I start using it .:P The crank arm is also length adjustable if I need it longer/shorter. 

 

Everyone's advice seems sound... i guess it is just about wading through anything that conflicts. 

 

I will be burning CHARCOAL, yes, rather than coal. Though, having the ability to burn different fuels would be a plus. 

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A wood stove is a closed fire with limited draft feeding it, it's all under negative pressure and requires a smaller stack to draw properly. Too large a stack on a wood stove doesn't work so well.

Another reason for a larger stack over a forge is BECAUSE it's an open system the stack has to move a much larger volume of gasses, some hot smoke but mostly ambient temperature room air and as it mixes in the stack cools down. It's a larger convection system with a lower temp differential. The machine to guide it up and out just needs to carry more, lower velocity. Smoke has to drift up to an overhead hood and compete with the ambient air on it's way up the stack. Lots of cool slowness takes more room. Make sense?

Now we get to Uri's super sucker. The intake is right next to the fire, not under a large hood above it so it only has to influence smoke and air over a small front with a higher temperature differential. It doesn't draw nearly as much ambient temp room air so mixing doesn't cool the flow nearly as much. The super sucker is usually pictured with flame being drawn into it so it's moving less gas faster and it stays hotter.

A forge burning charcoal or coal behave almost identically. Once the coal has coked there is actually little "smoke" coke is to coal as charcoal is to wood.

If I burned solid fuel in my shop I'd have a super sucker whether through the wall or straight up through the roof.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Thanks Frosty, that helps clear up a lot. 

My last forge (some 15ish years ago) I didn't bother with venting as it was set up in an old barn with 20ish foot vaulted ceiling and lots of air leaks ... Vented out pretty well.... Now I am learning all the other fun physics involved that you don't really think of much. 

For anyone interested/curious, this is the design I came up with that work made into a spec and 3D CAD design. It was then cut on a laser cutter, and then bent and welded in the shop. The only difference from design to final product is the pot is centered rather than being slightly forward. 

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1_4956669808960602898.pdf 1_4956669808960602897.pdf

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The plain super sucker with a vertical chimney is a pretty much "gold standard'.   As my used wall material had a previously chimney hole in it I just took a piece of 10" spiral seamed duct and ran it up at an angle.  Of course rain issues are not much of a problem out here in the high and dry.

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Note how much room air is being sucked into your set up vs the hot air from the forge. I would not think it would work very well.

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