[TheForge] Forge Design.

Fri Apr 10 20:56:10 EDT 2015

     My forge has a fire brick surface above a S.O.F.A fire pot. The 
fire bricks are aligned with the smith facing the narrow ends.
One row of fire bricks directly in front of and in back of the fire pot 
were left out. This provide for a deeper fire but you can still
lay the iron on the top of the fire pot but below the top of the fire 
brick thus well into the middle of the fire.

Bob Willman
The Eagle’s Anvil
Bowling Green, Ohio
WB8NQW

And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when
we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the
minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?
That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I
tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His
justice cannot sleep forever.

Thomas Jefferson

On 4/10/2015 8:40 PM, CGRAF wrote:
> I agree the charcoal is plenty hot. Like I said it just might require 
> a re acquaintance with part of the learning curve. My tuyere is about 
> 8 inches across and five deep. Piled over the top I get a nice dome of 
> very intense heat great for spot heating the middle of things and just 
> the area that I am working.  To get the same intensity I needed to add 
> the 2.5 inches provided by the firebrick corral around the tuyere. 
> This of course made it harder to stick things through the fire  rather 
> that on top of it.
>
> How deep is the fire on the brake drum forge? I am probably the only 
> one here who has never owned one <G>
>
> Mike Graf
>
>
>
> On 4/10/2015 5:52 PM, Saint Phlip wrote:
>> Not sure what modification you'd need to your coal forge to get the heat
>> you want. My charcoal forge started as a coal brake drum forge, and, 
>> when I
>> realized I was using charcoal to get the coal/coke lit, decided to 
>> switch
>> to entirely charcoal. I've never looked back- smells nicer, is more 
>> period
>> appropriate, and my coffee tastes better ;-) However, if you're using
>> briquets, they don't seem to produce as much heat as lump charcoal does,
>> AND they have additional chemicals to form the trash wood into 
>> briquets. I
>> have taught forge welding quite easily on my forge, not to mention I 
>> burn
>> up the little useless bits of leftover steel in it, rather than have 
>> them
>> lying around, so the heat is definitely there. Maybe you need more air?
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 12:08 PM, CGRAF <adveniam at att.net> wrote:
>>
>>> I have tried the charcoal , to switch would involve a pretty big
>>> modification to my coal forge in order to get enough depth and still 
>>> keep
>>> the fire at the right working height.
>>> Charcoal worked just fine when I built a firebrick rim around me 
>>> tuyere.
>>> There was just not enough Btu's available from the charcoal with the
>>> shallower coal fire setup. At least not for my tastes. Perhaps I 
>>> would just
>>> need to revisit part of the learning curve.
>>>
>>> You are right about the coke. When I am up and running the coal fire is
>>> primarily coke and the coal at the edges isn't all that bad as it 
>>> converts.
>>>
>>> I am sitting on a fair stockpile of coal at the moment , but am
>>> contemplating  a change over as I run out.
>>>
>>> Mike Graf
>>>
>>>
>>> On 4/10/2015 10:38 AM, Ron Childers wrote:
>>>
>>>> Charcoal or coke takes care of the odor problem
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: TheForge [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
>>>> CGRAF
>>>> Sent: Friday, April 10, 2015 11:01 AM
>>>> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
>>>> Subject: [TheForge] Forge Design.
>>>>
>>>> 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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>>
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