- Joined
- Jan 1, 2009
- Messages
- 583
I've had several e-mails from members about the charcoal forge I use, I needed another for welding so we took pics along the way.
All you need for a forge is a hole in the ground, some type of fuel and a way to put oxygen to it. In a lot of the world it is still done this simply. A very talented Bladesmith by the name of Tim Lively put these elements in a portable, inexpensive and very efficient design. This one is patterned after his.
I started with a 5.5 gallon oval washtub. (this one was used as a planter at a wedding) , a 30″ long piece of 1″ black iron pipe, good old ‘Carolina clay, an old vacuum cleaner hose, a tupperware container and a 14″ hand cranked blower.
I drilled 1.5″ holes in the ends of the tub for the pipe ( called a Tweer in a forge) and a bucket of clay. Tim used adobe , I have clay.
All I’m doing is building a U shaped trough down to the tweer which will insulate the sides. I’m shooting for about 2″ of fuel under the iron and the same above. Get your hands dirty, will not hurt bad. And then I let it dry overnight.
Next I drill a series of 1/4″ holes in the tweer about an inch or so apart(air outlets) and I needed to adapt my 3 1/2″ outlet on the blower to the 1 1/4″ hose. I went through Lovely Brides Tupperware and found one that fit the outlet and cut a hole in the bottom for the hose. A piece of HVAC tape seals it.
I need to plug the other end of the tweer pipe. If you buy pipe get one end threaded and use a cap. I had this pipe laying around and it’s not threaded so a chunk of wood out of the burn pile will do for now. We need this end removable to clean out the ash on occasion.
Look, a ChurchandSon ‘hawk to trim it (Sold separately)
And here it is connected to the blower. I started this Saturday afternoon and now it’s Sunday.
Stump logs are a Blacksmiths friend. And a washtub of homebrew charcoal
Lets crank this thing up. The clay is still damp and it will crack as it drys, after the first fire I’ll put a thin coat on it to fill cracks. The clay works good, after several fires it turns very hard and reflects heat well. Think of a fired pottery finish.
ChurchandSon at work. I’m the good looking one with the glasses on my head and VooDoo is the long haired one with the ever present headphones (He’s a musician, I think they come standard)
The in a former life horse trailer is "Redbud Mobile 1", we throw all our stuff in it and use it at demonstrations, fairs and reenactments.
See who's doing all the work? Don't want to blister those talented fingers!
And throw a little iron in it. That is a railroad bolt, 1 1/4″ thick.''
That’s after about 5-6 minutes. It will get hotter as it cures and will be easier to bring up to heat.
It doesn’t take much money or time to get heatin’ and beatin’. Just the desire. Over the next few weeks we will be making a post anvil and some hammers. All from re-used materials......Randy
All you need for a forge is a hole in the ground, some type of fuel and a way to put oxygen to it. In a lot of the world it is still done this simply. A very talented Bladesmith by the name of Tim Lively put these elements in a portable, inexpensive and very efficient design. This one is patterned after his.
I started with a 5.5 gallon oval washtub. (this one was used as a planter at a wedding) , a 30″ long piece of 1″ black iron pipe, good old ‘Carolina clay, an old vacuum cleaner hose, a tupperware container and a 14″ hand cranked blower.
I drilled 1.5″ holes in the ends of the tub for the pipe ( called a Tweer in a forge) and a bucket of clay. Tim used adobe , I have clay.
All I’m doing is building a U shaped trough down to the tweer which will insulate the sides. I’m shooting for about 2″ of fuel under the iron and the same above. Get your hands dirty, will not hurt bad. And then I let it dry overnight.
Next I drill a series of 1/4″ holes in the tweer about an inch or so apart(air outlets) and I needed to adapt my 3 1/2″ outlet on the blower to the 1 1/4″ hose. I went through Lovely Brides Tupperware and found one that fit the outlet and cut a hole in the bottom for the hose. A piece of HVAC tape seals it.
I need to plug the other end of the tweer pipe. If you buy pipe get one end threaded and use a cap. I had this pipe laying around and it’s not threaded so a chunk of wood out of the burn pile will do for now. We need this end removable to clean out the ash on occasion.
Look, a ChurchandSon ‘hawk to trim it (Sold separately)
And here it is connected to the blower. I started this Saturday afternoon and now it’s Sunday.
Stump logs are a Blacksmiths friend. And a washtub of homebrew charcoal
Lets crank this thing up. The clay is still damp and it will crack as it drys, after the first fire I’ll put a thin coat on it to fill cracks. The clay works good, after several fires it turns very hard and reflects heat well. Think of a fired pottery finish.
ChurchandSon at work. I’m the good looking one with the glasses on my head and VooDoo is the long haired one with the ever present headphones (He’s a musician, I think they come standard)
The in a former life horse trailer is "Redbud Mobile 1", we throw all our stuff in it and use it at demonstrations, fairs and reenactments.
See who's doing all the work? Don't want to blister those talented fingers!
And throw a little iron in it. That is a railroad bolt, 1 1/4″ thick.''
That’s after about 5-6 minutes. It will get hotter as it cures and will be easier to bring up to heat.
It doesn’t take much money or time to get heatin’ and beatin’. Just the desire. Over the next few weeks we will be making a post anvil and some hammers. All from re-used materials......Randy
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