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In this instructable you will learn how to make a charcoal / coal burning forge from firebrick, a few steel plumbing parts, a steel sheet, some cinder blocks and a blower
Unfortunately I ran out of money before i could finish the forge, in total it should cost around $ 50 USD depending how fancy you want it. The plans you will see are paint mock-ups from my actual design, i do not own a scanner so I had to make pictures.
This is what the finished forge should look like
Unfortunately I ran out of money before i could finish the forge, in total it should cost around $ 50 USD depending how fancy you want it. The plans you will see are paint mock-ups from my actual design, i do not own a scanner so I had to make pictures.
This is what the finished forge should look like
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Signing UpStep 1Why a forge and getting started up
When I first discovered wanting to take up blacksmithing as a hobby, I searched and searched for designs and a website to help me get started. Then i discovered AnvilFire, they have some F.A.Q.'s and a whole bunch of info on starting up. They also have a help section called "Guru's Den" you ask questions and they will answer them.
As a begainner at Blacksmithing they recommend to build a forge out of a Brake Drum I decided against it because I really didn't want to be using a rusty piece of junk to hold 3,000 degree charcoal and white hot iron.
So i asked the guru guy a lot of questions.
And I made plans on it
Basically its fire brick in a square pillar shape stacked like a brick wall
As a begainner at Blacksmithing they recommend to build a forge out of a Brake Drum I decided against it because I really didn't want to be using a rusty piece of junk to hold 3,000 degree charcoal and white hot iron.
So i asked the guru guy a lot of questions.
And I made plans on it
Basically its fire brick in a square pillar shape stacked like a brick wall
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1) you can throw it in another forge... make sure it goes well over the boiling point of zinc and make sure no one is close enough to breath the fumes or that you're outdoors and stay well clear. Takes about 1000 degrees to do this. Give it a while at that temp. Keep in mind overall, unless you have lung problems, even if you do breath it... you're likely not going to die, but you will wish you were dead. Zinc vapor is rough and it'll lay you low for a day or more.
2) alternately, you can submerse it in vinegar for a couple days (or boiling vinegar for say a day) until the zinc is completely removed, a faster process is giving it a muriatic acid bath until it quits fizzing, but then you have to neutralize it in a soda bath or similar. In either case you need to give it a coat in something to prevent rapid rusting.
The better option of course is using "black" plumbing which doesn't have a galvanized zinc coating... but 2" "black" plumbing is getting increasingly hard to find... and 2" galvanized is still very common. YMMV.
COULD ANYBODY HELP ME OUT PLEASEEEEEEE
the only problem I have is that it took my like four or five reads and examining of the diagram here to realize what was going on.
If you could please maybe label or color the fire bricks different from the cinder blocks used to support the forge that would be great.
And another quick question, without putting a top on the forge, wouldnt that mean that all the heat would just quickly escape?
Thanks,
Nick
Best. Character. EVAR.
My forge/furnace consists of a large (5 gallon) paint can buried into the ground with 2 metal pipes underneath. One pipe for drainage of any water that happens to get in and the other for the blower (I'm using a wet/dry vac). I have a round section of chicken wire in the middle of the can to hold the coal up on the sides of the furnace and in the middle while allowing the crucible to go into the middle and letting the ash through. I then take the vac and suck the ash out once the furnace cools down.
A simple furnace is described in the "Back to Basics" book. Instead of using the fire brick/ concrete, use a Truck Brake Drum and place a metal grate into the bottom. Here's a site to show what I mean.