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Step 3ON FIRE!
Also known as lighting the forge.
Once you've placed the pipe the correct distance into the forge and applied the refractory, being careful not to obstruct the airflow and to leave a working area big enough for the work you plan to do, it's tome to test-fire it. I suggest doing this at least once before doing any work, just to get a feel for it. I lit mine by putting some wood shavings and paper into it and lighting them, then adding more wood onto that until i was happy that it wouldn't blow out when i turned the blower on (once again, i forgot something important. The blower pushes air through the forge to allow it to reach the correct heat. The blower goes on the end of the pipe that goes into the forge. It needs to be close enough that it doesn't lose too much huff over distance, but far enough away that it doesn't melt with the heat.) Once the blower's on and some more wood's on the fire, put the fuel on, whether you're using coal or charcoal or whatever else. Don't use wood for lots of reasons. It'll take a while for the fuel to take. Put more wood on as needed and put fuel over any gushes of flame coming out (don't panic, the flames from the wood are only 6 inches at the most) Soon enough the wood you used to start the fire'll have burned out and the fuel will be alight. put more on as you need to, but don't put too much on. If it gets higher than the rim of the forge, it's too much. In the picture you can see some bits of wood poking out the sides. The forge itself is on a cinder block (i think i could find a way to get porous cinderblock into ALL my instructables if i tried) Also seen is the hi-tech air blower (old hairdryer) and the space-age way of ensureing that no air is lost in the transition between blower and pipe (sticky tape)
Once you've placed the pipe the correct distance into the forge and applied the refractory, being careful not to obstruct the airflow and to leave a working area big enough for the work you plan to do, it's tome to test-fire it. I suggest doing this at least once before doing any work, just to get a feel for it. I lit mine by putting some wood shavings and paper into it and lighting them, then adding more wood onto that until i was happy that it wouldn't blow out when i turned the blower on (once again, i forgot something important. The blower pushes air through the forge to allow it to reach the correct heat. The blower goes on the end of the pipe that goes into the forge. It needs to be close enough that it doesn't lose too much huff over distance, but far enough away that it doesn't melt with the heat.) Once the blower's on and some more wood's on the fire, put the fuel on, whether you're using coal or charcoal or whatever else. Don't use wood for lots of reasons. It'll take a while for the fuel to take. Put more wood on as needed and put fuel over any gushes of flame coming out (don't panic, the flames from the wood are only 6 inches at the most) Soon enough the wood you used to start the fire'll have burned out and the fuel will be alight. put more on as you need to, but don't put too much on. If it gets higher than the rim of the forge, it's too much. In the picture you can see some bits of wood poking out the sides. The forge itself is on a cinder block (i think i could find a way to get porous cinderblock into ALL my instructables if i tried) Also seen is the hi-tech air blower (old hairdryer) and the space-age way of ensureing that no air is lost in the transition between blower and pipe (sticky tape)
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Jun 22, 2009. 1:12 PMkater32
says:
What kind of pipe did u use to hook the blow drier up to? I've read that galvinized won't work...that when u burn the outer zinc stuff off, it lets off bad chemicles that u should'nt breath.
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Aug 18, 2009. 5:05 PM
oldanvilyoungsmith
says:
oldanvilyoungsmith
says:
Galvanized metal is dangerous to heat up, but if you are outside and don't stand in the smoke (this is also a very small amount of galvanization that will burn) You would be perfectly fine. I use small lag bolts to make scorpions, and I can only find galvanized ones, so I put 5-6 on the fire and walk of till the galvanzation is burned off.
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