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Step 2The forge - layout, construction and lighting
1. First thing, find a good spot to set the forge up, not under any thing, where it wont have to be moved, but still shielded from any winds.
2. Place the slabs on the floor adjacent to each other with the breeze block at one end to act as the back.
3. This next part is the hardest to describe its the making of the air ways, the object is to have even amounts of air flowing into the forge all the way along its length on both sides. Lay the solid bricks along the edge of the slabs on there sides from the back to the front on both sides of the slabs with a gap for the air in let in the middle.
4. Now place the building bricks also on there sides with the holes in them approximately 8cm away from the other bricks laying them from the back to the front.
5. To cap of the air way use the solid bricks laid so they overhang on top of the other bricks.
6. Lay another course of bricks on the inner wall to make it higher, some chopping of bricks will be required to make them fit. Studding the pictures will help but in the drawn one I have it with 5 rows of bricks when it should have 4 but this make no difference the principles are the same. It is beneficial to have a lip at the front of the forge to stop the coke from falling out.
7. The outlet holes that are most near the air in let need to be closed up slightly, using the clay make a rim around the holes halving the diameter and feathering off as it gets further away from the air inlet.
8. Rolling the clay into strips seal the bricks with the clay so that little air can escape. Do not attach the hair dryers yet.
9. Have the tiles near by as they will act as semi lid to keep the heat in once the forge is going. Set out the tools you will be using, the bucket of water, the water but, the mettle you will be working on and the thing that you have chosen to work the mettle on all out so that it is in easy reach.
10. The best way that I found to light the coke is to put the coke in that you need (up to the first two layers of bricks), then to burry some soft and hard wood in the coke then build up a layer of wood on top of the coke so that it is higher than the top brick. To light use lighting fluid or diesel, do not use petrol or methonal as they are far to combustible and will go out before heating up the wood so it burns properly.
11. Doing this should make a fire on top of the coke and once the fire has died down, heated up the forge and the coke underneath, attach the hair dryers and seal with some clay once attached play with the settings until you get the right heat. Dont have them on full if it isnt in use for a bit because it will burn up the coke and having them on full power may make the forge to hot as it can reach temperatures that will destroy the bricks and the mettle you are working on!
2. Place the slabs on the floor adjacent to each other with the breeze block at one end to act as the back.
3. This next part is the hardest to describe its the making of the air ways, the object is to have even amounts of air flowing into the forge all the way along its length on both sides. Lay the solid bricks along the edge of the slabs on there sides from the back to the front on both sides of the slabs with a gap for the air in let in the middle.
4. Now place the building bricks also on there sides with the holes in them approximately 8cm away from the other bricks laying them from the back to the front.
5. To cap of the air way use the solid bricks laid so they overhang on top of the other bricks.
6. Lay another course of bricks on the inner wall to make it higher, some chopping of bricks will be required to make them fit. Studding the pictures will help but in the drawn one I have it with 5 rows of bricks when it should have 4 but this make no difference the principles are the same. It is beneficial to have a lip at the front of the forge to stop the coke from falling out.
7. The outlet holes that are most near the air in let need to be closed up slightly, using the clay make a rim around the holes halving the diameter and feathering off as it gets further away from the air inlet.
8. Rolling the clay into strips seal the bricks with the clay so that little air can escape. Do not attach the hair dryers yet.
9. Have the tiles near by as they will act as semi lid to keep the heat in once the forge is going. Set out the tools you will be using, the bucket of water, the water but, the mettle you will be working on and the thing that you have chosen to work the mettle on all out so that it is in easy reach.
10. The best way that I found to light the coke is to put the coke in that you need (up to the first two layers of bricks), then to burry some soft and hard wood in the coke then build up a layer of wood on top of the coke so that it is higher than the top brick. To light use lighting fluid or diesel, do not use petrol or methonal as they are far to combustible and will go out before heating up the wood so it burns properly.
11. Doing this should make a fire on top of the coke and once the fire has died down, heated up the forge and the coke underneath, attach the hair dryers and seal with some clay once attached play with the settings until you get the right heat. Dont have them on full if it isnt in use for a bit because it will burn up the coke and having them on full power may make the forge to hot as it can reach temperatures that will destroy the bricks and the mettle you are working on!
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Aug 17, 2010. 5:38 AMcool2000
says:
could you have it run on charcoal? cool sword!
Reply
May 13, 2009. 12:21 PMDAVEDIY
says:
NOW THAT IS VERY COOL!
Reply
May 4, 2009. 2:30 PMTimmyboy
says:
at 12:47 i posted my last comment and 10 minutes after that i began building my forge and the pit(using toms plans(which i must say are very nice) and at 2:20 p.m. i finished the forge. i havn't tried putting air through it but i can already see that it will work. now im going to go back out there and use toms plans to start the fire. also it only cost me $32 to buy all the materials for the forge(i only bought 25 bricks because i made mine shorter)
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May 4, 2009. 12:47 PMTimmyboy
says:
what you can do to keep some of the heat from being sucked into the ground is....dig a pit by these dominations or by the dominations of your forge 16 inch wide, 10 inch deep(use this depth even if you change the other dominations) and 32 inch long......take some 1" gravel and put 3" of it in the pit. then take pea gravel(about 1/2 inch or 1/3 inch) and fill 3" agine.then fill the rest up with sand(4" of sand) stamp the sand and build your foundation over it.(you should put concrete slabs over the pit) the sand will suck up all the moister that originally would go to the fire..then the fire will just evaporate the moister..simple yet effective.
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Dec 14, 2007. 7:04 AMirongus
says:
nice setup. just remember that there is a heat loss from the floor of the forge too. I read a book about the charcoal version of this type of forge and they build it on a biog pile of burnt ash so the heat is not sucked out of the forge by the ground. I never tried it myself but it makes some sense. You might not need it for coke because its heat isso much more
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