So, I'm making a brake drum forge to get started with. The drum I have is about 11" with a 3" dia hole in the center. What I'm not sure of is where to get the piping for this. I've looked at Home depot and lowes, but all I've found is 1.5" pipe. I was hoping for 3" to fit the center, but 2" should work if the flange can bolt up to the drum.

Any one have any suggestions?

You could try a car exhaust specialist. They often throw out lots of short lengths of 2" which would be plenty large enough.

Slideshow of Building a forge - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

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Chris , I made a drum forge , and it works pretty good, Here's a slide show and a few pic's..

Chris I just built a brake drum forge today and picked up the piping this morning. I used 2 inch black steel schedule 40. You won't find it at the big box stores I had to go to a plumbing and drain pipe supply company. I used a 2 inch flange, a T, 2 inch nipple, 4 inch nipple and 6 inch nipple.

It worked real well. Good luck and check your yellow pages for pipe or plumbing supply house that carries schedule 40 black pipe.

I used a brake drum with a hole slightly larger than some 2 1/2" exhaust pipe I had. I flared the end of the pipe over the edge of the anvil as shown in the blueprint for the 55-gal drum forge. The bottom of the pipe runs into a 5-gal bucket of water to seal it, put out embers that fall through the grate, and quench. I cut a hole and threaded a pipe nipple into the 2 1/2" tube above the bucket for air feed.

Good Luck!

Some medium duty diesel engines use 3" exhaust. I salvaged some 3" tubing from an old basketball goal post.

you cant beat the wreckers my dad fortunately for me owns a large auto wreckers. have almost every type, shape, and size of steel imaginable. if you go to a scrap yard look for exhaust pipe off of a dodge cummins 89-01. they all ran 3". you might be able to find alot more useful thing there too. id suggest finding one and taking a look around ;)

P.S. i made mine from a brake drum from a semi. i used 2 1/2" pipe for the air tube. to fill the holes for the wheel studs and center hub i took a sheet of steel that was laying around and welded it to the bottom, then i cut a 2 1/2" hole in the plate steel and welded the pipe to it. all i have left is to hook up my hand crank forge blower and make legs for it to stand with.

the home depot by me sells up to 2 inch pipe and fittings. dont use galvanized, and dont use zinc coated bolts to hold everything together. use stainless steel.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I actually found some 2" pipe at my local lowes (funny the website doesn't mention it). Although they didn't have the flange, the coupling they have is 3" in Dia so I'm just going to weld that to the drum.

Thanks again for the replies, I'll try to throw up a pic when I get finished with it.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I actually found some 2" pipe at my local lowes (funny the website doesn't mention it). Although they didn't have the flange, the coupling they have is 3" in Dia so I'm just going to weld that to the drum.

Thanks again for the replies, I'll try to throw up a pic when I get finished with it.

brake drums are cast iron, so you cant weld it. my brake drum forge uses 2 inch pipe. i found a 2 inch flange to use, and drilled new holes to mount it on. use stainless steel bolts on it, you dont want zinc coated bolts near fire.

Thanks for the tip about the ss bolts, I actually bought 5 to plug the stud holes. If I can't weld the drum, I'll have to weld up a piece of sheet to the coupling and drill it out. I'm glad you told me about the cast iron, I'm sure I would have lost my mind trying.

brake drums are cast iron, so you cant weld it. my brake drum forge uses 2 inch pipe. i found a 2 inch flange to use, and drilled new holes to mount it on. use stainless steel bolts on it, you dont want zinc coated bolts near fire.

Depending on the brake drum, the center may not be cast. Cast iron can be welded with the right rod/preheat/extended cooling.

Good Luck!