Avadon Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 So I finally finished my forge I had been picking everyones brain about forever and ever. This is basically an enclosed brake drum forge. I live in a rural area, but it's still burbs, so I had a feeling if I really have just a big open fire going that someone at some point might come over and complain. This way it looks just like one big mean bbq of evil. lol I decided to name her "Nemesis" after the remorseless Goddess of divine retribution. Sometime this week I hope to light her up and test it all out. I'll also show you the pics soon of my anvil i use outside.. it's just a giant steel brick.. hehe.. cheap, but effective. It's kind of a pet peeve of mine to have tools all over the grass as a company mows our lawn and they don't do it very regularly so if I lay things on the lawn they will get lost, thus I made sure to weld a lot of stuff on the forge to hang quenching buckets, hammer racks, tool racks, a grill pad on the right to place hot steel, and a hammer rack bottom left. The rubber mount near the hammer rack is where I push my hair dryer into it. All in all it's one very stout design. I welded much better wheels on the thing. It's quite heavy, i'd say easy 200+#'s I'm sure in using it i'll learn enough of what works and what doesn't. I'm sure this will just be one of several coal forges i'll build in my life, but this isn't bad for a mobile forge (as i'll move from here eventually) and it's also my first forge. 8) (believe me when I say I narrowed it down to a fraction of the pics I took, so i'm hoping these load okay for everyone. If it hangs you may have to refresh, but they are all small size) If you want to see many more pics of it look on armour archive hereNEMESIS (My enclosed Brake-Drum Forge) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kovacija(blacksmith) Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 scary! thing you got out there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted September 17, 2008 Author Share Posted September 17, 2008 Yah its basically my "semi-perm" outside forge as it's heavy and really not fun to move lol I'm sure i'll make lighter more portable coal forges in the future. I may even work towards more "open" forges if the winds around here don't seem to bad, and also if neighbors don't seem to be much of a problem. The forge isn't really the problem as much as it is the hammering that attracts people attention to a forge hehe :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 That looks like the BBQ from xxxx!! Good job, make sure you give us an update of how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbeard Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Nice forge looks like you put a lot of time and effort into making it, hope you have lots of fun productive forging with it! Would it be easier to move around if you put bigger wheels on it? Just a thought. It looks great! Bb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted September 17, 2008 Author Share Posted September 17, 2008 Yes bigger wheels would have been some good foresight, and they'll be on my next forge. The reason is I sorely underestimated how hard it would be to push 8" wheels over tall grass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbob Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Just think in about 50 years or so some one willl write in here wanting to know about a NEMESIS forge is ...who made it etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Or be trying to sell it on eBay for some amazing price :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted September 17, 2008 Author Share Posted September 17, 2008 Thanks guys.. you just made me grin ear-to-ear Yah know, the first flight of fancy has all the trimmings and usual splendor, but the 3'rd try, the 5'th try and perhaps even the 10'th try have all the hindsight, streamlining, and minimalistic efficacy of a master builder. ;-) i'll certainly give a progress report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Mulholland - Tetnum Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 i am just wondering why the brake drum is flush and covered with a grate it seams that might be more effective to have the brake drum rased a little and a smaller tweer but you might be on to something you would get a fairily even burn across a large aria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Yeah, it does look like the BBQ grill from Xxxx. LOL. I was wondering that as well tetnum, could you please explain. My forge, has a brake-drum for the fire pot, and I get about a 10" long by 5" wide even heated area..yellowish. So I was wondering why the bars. Because there would be a lot more oxidation, and a little bit harder to get a real hot fire. It could also consume more fuel. I AM IN NO WAY DISSING YOUR FORGE. Just putting my ideas out there, and wondering why. I can't wait to here of the advantages to that firepot. Best Regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 i am just wondering why the brake drum is flush and covered with a grate it seams that might be more effective to have the brake drum rased a little and a smaller tweer but you might be on to something you would get a fairily even burn across a large aria The brake drum had a 1/4" lip on it and i hung that lip over the giant circle i had to cut (with an angle grinder) in the 1/4" plate I supported the fire pot in. Then I just welded that lip to the plate. Believe me, that fire pot is IN there! No heat could take that out of there, xxxx I'm not even sure a direct nuclear hit could take that fire pot out of there. lol I somewhat followed this design. See attached photo. The tweer is 6 1/4" holes and it puts about a 3" or 4" area of airflow right in the middle which seemed to be what people were saying in the stuff I read. My only conern is that I may have to make a new tweer that fits into the inner bottom of the brake drum, instead of covers the entire bottom so I can get more depth out of the drum itself. Cause I think I might be a little shy on depth with the tweer and grill. But i'll have to see when i fire it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 Yeah, it does look like the BBQ grill from H***. LOL. I was wondering that as well tetnum, could you please explain. My forge, has a brake-drum for the fire pot, and I get about a 10" long by 5" wide even heated area..yellowish. So I was wondering why the bars. Because there would be a lot more oxidation, and a little bit harder to get a real hot fire. It could also consume more fuel. I AM IN NO WAY DISSING YOUR FORGE. Just putting my ideas out there, and wondering why. I can't wait to here of the advantages to that firepot. Best Regards, John Honestly I don't know if a grill is better or worse. I felt like just the tweer would probably not get enough air dissipation under the full diameter of the coal. So i'm not sure if the grill is a bane or a blessing yet. I saw someone had a grill and they swore up and down by it since it's an easily replacable element, unlike replacing the drum/firepot. But seeing as I have a replacable 1/4" tweer I guess it's somewhat of a double up. I definitely want to try "just the grill" and see what the fire is like.. and "just the tweer without the grill" and see what the fire is like. That might lend to my ideas in making a second one. I've also seen the ole clinker breaker inside black pipe setup and yet i've been told by many people that they were not too pleased with that particular setup. From months of investigating back yard forges I came to the conclusion that there's really a lot of ways to do this, everyone thinks their way is the expert way (haha) and clearly results vary. I'll admit i'm certainly no expert, i'm just going by what the people who thougtht they were "most right" said ROFL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Lol, Avadon, I was just wondering about heat with the tweer, and then that open space, that's all. Thanks for clearing all of that stuff up. Can't wait to see it in action. Best Regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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