[TheForge] Forge Design.

[Ries Niemi]

A very common approach to this, for many years now, has been to build a flat table, with a firebrick top, with a burner located in the center, pointing up.
Then, you construct a custom, "Igloo" shaped forge for each specific job. If the job needs a tunnel, or a circle, or an L, you build up firebricks accordingly. 
Of course, a forge like this is less efficient, in terms of heat loss, than a fixed shape with doors and Kaowool wrapping. 
But it is infinitely flexible, and many professional smiths I know use this technique for unusual jobs.
You can stack your firebricks to enclose just the part of a bigger piece you want hot, for example.

ries


On Apr 10, 2015, at 8:01 AM, CGRAF <adveniam at att.net> wrote:

> Most of us have used , or are using, Coal and gas fired forges.
> I am frustrated by the limitations of each.
> 
> The coal has the whole irritating the neighbors with the odor issue.
> 
> The gas forges have problems putting the heat exactly where I want it heating up to large an area or limiting the forms I can make and still insert the piece into the forge.
> 
> I have been playing with forges built to purpose out of just a loose pile of firebrick. This allows me to modify fire shape and area pretty much on the fly. It is a bit more trouble than changing the shape, size and intensity of a coal fire but not much more.
> 
> Anybody else out there have any thing that you have tried to address these or other issues with differing fuels and forge designs?
> 
> 
> Mike Graf
> 
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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
WWW.RiesNiemi.com