2-day $20-$50 Blacksmithing Forge

Step 7 The Pride

Stand back and gawk at your new creation. Smile because it is time to test it.

Warning: Heat slowly because the fire will expand any air hole and destroy parts of your beautiful forge.

You are now done.

Tell me how yours worked, but if you die, it is not my fault.

If you have any questions, ask, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Comments

[jjhammerstein]

It's much easier to use a brake drum from a truck for your fire bowl. I found mine on the side of the highway somewhere. It has the same thermal mass qualities, and I'm pretty sure junk car lots are easier to find than pottery supply shops. Cheaper too.

[seabee890]

the blacksmith that was teaching me used the top of a old water heater tank(the inside not the outside, this made a natural cleanout hole at the bottom. I miss the smell of burning coal sometimes.

[OldOwlIronworks]

That is a great idea for a forge, I plan to build a Blacksmiths shop as well as a new forge this summer. And the smell of coal will never get old(:

[seabee890]

my goal is to find a way to create a power hammer without  the weight and space, i was going to use a cherry picker and a jack hammer  set up so that i could custom make the bits but i have not got the space for a shop yet.

[OldOwlIronworks]

Ah that may work, and a good Idea, but where would you get the jackhammer? just wondering. Ive had some thoughtsabout a trip hammer and may even make it traditionally, but with a electric(possibly) motor

[badideasrus]

a possibly more complicated way to do it may be to observe some clock movements. use a pendulum and gear setup to lift and drop a hammer. need big weight on the pendulum tho.....

also, i a blacksmith book i bought, there was an 'un' powered hammer that used ur foot to hammer. maybe i draw a pic, if i can figure out how to upload one. basically, hammer is on an axle. a leaf spring (which was made of wood in the pic) was attached to a chain, rope, ect, looped over a pully and attached to the hammer.

another chain-thing was attached to the axle (or an arm attached to the axle, for more leverage....). the other end of the chain was attached to a foot pedal. hands are free to manover the metal and such, while the foot moved the hammer.

[Demascus]

you use a electric motor, and the spring for a car or truck the gears and stuff are not really needed unless you want to make it a multi speed unit.
you make a cam our of a piece of square steel tubing . can also be made out of a large square piece of wood. the spring with hammer head on the end is held down on the other end and it rests on the square tubing. AS the motor turns the tubing is acts like a cam and raises the piece and lets it fall. Germans had one that used a water wheel and large logs that Ka thunked down with steel heads to pound their steel. I can makes some drawing if anyone needs more visiable information

[n0ukf]

Why would you want thermal mass in your firepot? More thermal mass takes more energy (more coal) to heat. Also, while the wider pot of a truck brake drum would give you more working area for the 'fire', you don't want the pot very deep if you want to heat anything very long (like say, a larger dagger or sword for the blade makers).

I've tried to work with a deep firepot, but to heat the middle of a longer piece, I had to either build the fire way up or bend the piece to get it down into the coals (coke). That's why so many smiths will have a more table type forge with the fire built up more in a pile. There is a firepot below the surface, but it's not that deep.

You can go to Anvilfire to learn more, they're very helpful there.

[Starshock01]

yeah while brake drum forges are nice they have barely enough room to make a decent knife, unless your using a monster truck drum

[jjhammerstein]

I use a monster brake drum. :D

[Demascus]

me too, made 2ft by 3 ft long table out of angle iron and 1/8 inch steel plate for the table bed, cut a hole in it just big enough to allow the brake drum to sit down in it and is held by that little rim on the outside edge all brake drums have. Use a large table fitting about 2inch diam pipe drilled holes in the inside edge of the brake drum (where the tire mounting nuts go.) used clay to pack a little bit around it and then made a 1/2 inch thick plate with holes in that set on the bottom. and I use coal, once it is started I keep adding more til it makes a mole hill in the middle of the forge. You use a watering sprinkler can to wet down the coal and keeps the fire from spreading also makes it coke up in there. I punch a little hole in the side of it and creates a "little cave" that way I can see my stuff and not melt it off. (yes I have done that) with just coal and air the thing gets over 3,000 degrees inside it will burn steel.literally

[OldOwlIronworks]

I got the clay from my uncle for Christmas last year. Where I live pottery clay is about $1-$2 a pound so 3 lbs. isn't hugely expensive. But I agree that car pieces are easier to find.

[jakenzi357]

i died.

[geodez]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAq9Y-m8_uk&feature=related

[Roger4Wheel]

He didn't use concrete (sand cement and gravel). He used mortar mix (sand cement and lime). quick-crete, kwick-crete, and others are just BRANDS of concrete type products. If you have a bunch of fire brick (broken or not) from an old chimney or fireplace, you can break then grind it up into a course powder and when mixed with fireplace mortar will make a nice mix to use for forges (not for iron or steel melting)

[petzlglyph]

Fire clay is available from most masonry suppliers it is used for building fireplaces. I should be fired before it dry's out. I just used it to build a melting furnace and had no problems with exploding, just a few small cracks into which I placed more fire clay before the next firing. I used a mixture of two parts 60 grit silica sand and one part fire clay. The first firing needs to be a long one to cure the fire clay. I filled it with charcoal ( Bar-B-Que type ), light the charcoal and let burn till all of it is ignited ( lots of steam will form ). Then turn on the blower ( low if possible ) until all of the charcoal is consumed. then cover the top with a ( dry ) stepping stone or something non combustable to hold in the heat until it cools on it's own. The charcoal produces nasty fumes do this outside. Great Instructable, I like your use of available resources!

[Diverguy83]

i dont know about using concrete cause that crap explodes when heated to high temps ... i just went to the pottery shop and got some fireclay for pretty cheap plus i use a brake drum and i havent had any problems making knives with it.

[skaar]

if you look at the diy foundry sites, you'll find that a mix of cement and vermiculite works well as a refractory, so it, can't be too bad to use cement. i think maybe it's the rocks in concrete that crack, but there's no rocks in the clay/cement mix.

[OldOwlIronworks]

Great. I couldn't find fireclay for a reasonable price or anywhere near me. How much did you pay for yours? And concrete is a little unsafe when first exposed to the heat, so if making a forge from quick-krete/clay use precaution when first using. And also, my forge isn't waterproof, so don't let it sit in the rain.

[grimcat27]

you can use kitty litter but it has to be crushed up first. It will not work whole an old blender and some window screen works well and oh yeah some time and Patience too. (maybe an hour or two to get a few LBS )

[seabee890]

!WARNING! USE THE BLENDER IDEA ONLY IF YOU WANT THE MISSUS TO DRAG YOU TO THE LOCAL APPLIANCE STORE BECAUSE SHE CAUGHT YOU USING THE BLENDER TO GRIND UP KITTY LITTER>>>> It was an old blender but I still felt like a kid getting caught playing with matches.

[Diverguy83]

no i keep mine in the garage but as far as the fireclay goes i just looked up a rinker materials plant and picked up a 50 pound bag for about 23 bucks after taxes.