Razorhunter
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- Apr 25, 2013
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Blacksmith forge that is. I've got ideas but looking for others to compare.
Anyone made their own forge?
- Thread starter Razorhunter
- Start date
Bob P1
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I have heard of using a tractor rim.
fourjeepin
Well-known member
I've heard about brake rotor forges but I haven't built one.
OP
Razorhunter
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- Apr 25, 2013
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Box of dirt. Will have to check that out for sure.
kaymccampbell
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I have a natural gas fired forge made from a homebrew refractory lined gas grill propane tank, with a fan boosted burner. It will heat up to 1x3 solid bar or a small crucible of aluminum for casting.
You can forge out of a hole in the ground. The box of dirt just let's you bring the fire yo a convenient working height.
landrover bodger
Well-known member
I made one a few years ago from steel angle and plate with a hair dryer for a blower . gets hot enough to melt coil springs burning house coal . look on youtube plenty on there
OP
Razorhunter
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Currently considering using either an old sink basin, or a 55gal metal drum, with shop vac for a temporary blower, with custom sheetmetal shroud used as a fume extractor. One big experiment you might say.
bigb56
Well-known member
I made my own single burner propane forge and I also have a coal forge made from a 55 gal drum with a squirrel cage blower. I also made a side draft chimney for the coal forge.
There is a lot to know about building a propane forge, for one, bigger is not always better. In fact it's usually worse. Mine is under 300 cubic inches and works great.
Go to iforgeiron.com and do some research. Don't just jump in with your first post asking how to build a forge, there are many old timers there who are helpful but they tend to get annoyed when newbies don't take the time to search out some info on their own first. Use Google for the search and put iforgeiron in the search string, the search engine on the site is not so great.
There is a lot to know about building a propane forge, for one, bigger is not always better. In fact it's usually worse. Mine is under 300 cubic inches and works great.
Go to iforgeiron.com and do some research. Don't just jump in with your first post asking how to build a forge, there are many old timers there who are helpful but they tend to get annoyed when newbies don't take the time to search out some info on their own first. Use Google for the search and put iforgeiron in the search string, the search engine on the site is not so great.
If you have 55 gallon drums handy Glenn Connor has a design on iforgeiron.com that he calls a supercharger. I've never built one but it's supposed to **** fleas off a dog when they walk by.
Farmall450
Well-known member
I think I'll make one of those brake drum ones
Erampu
Well-known member
We had a Bozo who tried to forge his own sword using a burn barrel and wound up burning down half a block of Cohoes, NY.
2mJps
Well-known member
I have built 2 coal forges. Something i didnt know at first is you dont want it very deep. I uaed a disc blade. I welded a 2 inch band around it to make it deeper.
American Locomotive
Well-known member
We built a coal forge out of an old semi truck drum. We probably went through like 5 major revisions before we came up with something that worked reasonably well. We ended up cutting almost all of the drum's rim away, leaving it a pan ~3" deep instead of the 12" it was originally. Tried lots of different grate and blower designs. Eventually we had a large disc cut to fit inside the drum, with a small square grate opening for air to come out and ash to pass down. It used an old clothes dryer blower with a mechanical shutter to control air.
However eventually someone gave us an old Buffalo Forge + hand-crank blower. The Buffalo Forge has worked much better for us and our projects. It has built in cut outs for long items, a little rotary mechanism to clear ash out of the air path and a very wide area to easily get coal in and out the working area. the hand-crank blower was broken, so we converted it to an electric leafblower with a small variac to control the speed.
However eventually someone gave us an old Buffalo Forge + hand-crank blower. The Buffalo Forge has worked much better for us and our projects. It has built in cut outs for long items, a little rotary mechanism to clear ash out of the air path and a very wide area to easily get coal in and out the working area. the hand-crank blower was broken, so we converted it to an electric leafblower with a small variac to control the speed.
bczygan
Well-known member
I've got one of these. Plugs in.
What do I need to fab up for a coal forge?
Bill
What do I need to fab up for a coal forge?
Bill
bigb56
Well-known member
Small and shallow is best. A deep forge is very hard to get metal into except for the tips. A large forge burns a lot of fuel. Here are some pics. My propane forge has fire brick doors with a small opening to watch thru when running. It also has a small cast iron door on the back for passing long stock through. I built it using a piece of 14" diameter pipe that I cut down and welded in a floor. I wanted a wide flat floor so I made a "D" shaped forge. It is insulated with 2" of Kaowool and 1" of Kast-O-Lite followed by a coating of Plistex reflective paint. The burner is a 3/4" "Z" burner made by Larry Zoeller. It is very efficient. I made 2 burner ports but I like the one at 2:00 best as it gives a nice swirl effect. I plug the unused one with scrap Kaowool and a cap.
My coal forge has a real fire pot and a dump valve on the bottom, as well as a tee for attaching the blower. The side draft chimney works great. I made several adjustments to the depth of the fire pot, making the "sweet spot" as high up as I could making it easier to place the work into the heat. It gets hotter than the propane forge and you can burn up your work if not careful.
My coal forge has a real fire pot and a dump valve on the bottom, as well as a tee for attaching the blower. The side draft chimney works great. I made several adjustments to the depth of the fire pot, making the "sweet spot" as high up as I could making it easier to place the work into the heat. It gets hotter than the propane forge and you can burn up your work if not careful.
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marineman
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I pitch beer cans in the fire and watch them melt, does that count?
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Did you see when the newsies interviewed him? He was about as smart as a loofah. He probably lit that thing up on his porch.
Carl_WI
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freudianfloyd
Well-known member
I made one on the cheap from an old charcoal grill and instead of clay, used cheap kitty litter and sand. Made a grill for the bottom and attached some black pipe and a blower from a water heater vent. I have used it to make a few things, and it has worked great. I have only burned lump charcoal in it due to coal being hard to find in my area.
younger guy I know built one out of a brake drum. he cut a hole for the pipe to inject air, and uses coal, and a bellows. He also built the bellows and a frame to make it somewhat portable to set up and display. I will try to grab a couple photos and put them up if you would like.