forge/firepit/grill can it be done?

D

dtownknifekid

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Dec 21, 2006
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My parents want i firepit/grill in backyard and i am trying to get into knifemaking. So i was wondering if it would be possible to make this firepit out of firebricks and furnace cement with normal redbricks outside for asthetics also double as a charcoal forge for simple heat treating when the air is turned on or if it is just a hopeless dream? any ideas on how to make a combination firepit forge would be greatly appreciated.
 
Charcoal brickets are pretty nasty to use at high heats unless you have a way to NOT breathe the fumes. I did it for awhile before I could get some coal and survived but, cough, cough, wouldn't recommend it.

A solid fuel forge is so easy to make it's not really worth it to combine with a grill, unless your parents aren't so happy about your black smoke and pile of scrap metal taking up yard space. You can build a forge half in the ground for natural insulation, you just need a pipe sticking out of the side that you can stick a blowdryer in for airflow to the bottom of your fire.

Here's a link to the video that inspired my first primitive forge. Good luck!

HB

http://www.survival.com/volume-9.htm
 
yeah i dont think my parents would be too happy about me digging a seperate pit or even making my own coal fired forge cause of the black smoke so i thought charcoal and a combo. Can you get enough heat with just a butload of wood(got plenty of that) and a good air supply?
 
Back when I used to forge with charcoal I would take chunks of wood about the size of my fist and put them around the top of the fire, they would become charcoal as I forged and I'd move them into the fire to be used. This was something I read about from the Neo-Tribal guys, I think Tai was the person that said he was doing it using chunks of mesquite.

I never had a problem with bad smells from the charcoal unless I used some of that "match lite" or other charcoal with lighter in it. I used some cheap "all natural" charcoal from Wally world and from this restaraunt supplier. It burned clean and long.

A solid fuel forge should be a problem as far as asthetics, you can make it portable and put it up when finished or make a cover for it. I've seen some really good forges made out of a brake drum that was put on a stand, after forging stick a potted plant like some sort of hanging fern in it to disguise it.
 
Real hardwood charcoal is probably your best bet for a solid fuel forge. Unfortunately it takes a lot of wood to make an appreciable amount, and rapid deforestation eventually lead to the use of charcoal as a cheap alternative.

Interestingly enough, real barbeque connoseurs tend to prefer real 100% hardwood charcoal to the preformed filler made brickett type as well.

Your interests and your parents interests could thus both be served by making this project properly, and using real charcoal for both.

Insofar as combining the two purposes, you are going to have to make certain sacrifices, as the design requirements of the two are not identical, but on the other hand, neither are they so far apart as to be mutually exclusive.

You could hang the firebox under the lower grill where the charcoal normally sits, and have a removeable top to the firebox. If you wat to be coocking food, put the top on the box, install the top grill for the food, and you've got a normal charcoal grill. Time to forge? great, take off the top grill and the firebox lid, stoke up the blower, and forge away!
 
Thank you verry much i think i'll try that. just a couple qustions. does the lid go above or under the top grill? and What exactly is a firebox? sorry but i am new to this hole business.
 
With a solid fuel forge you don't have a lid on the forge. The fuel is laying in the forge with a air supply into the fuel. You hit the burning fuel with air to get the heat up and lay or insert your piece of work onto/into the fuel. There is usually no real chamber as in a gas fueled forge. The fire box is the area where the fire is. If you have hole in the ground with a pipe into it and the charcoal is burning in the hole and you have a hair dryer pushing air into the pipe to feed the fire more oxegen the hole is a fire box. If it is the bottom of a old BBQ or a brake drum that is the firebox. If it is the part of your parents BBQ that would normaly burn the charcoal that is the firebox. You basically just need to add a good air supply and use a fuel that will burn hot enough and be able to get your work piece into it. Remember the bottom of the firebox will get really hot so it needs some kind of material that will take a lot of heat. If made ithe hard fire bricks you would be fine..
 
In the few solid fuel forges I've seen, the actual firebox was about the size of a brake drum (which, I guess would be why they are a popular thing to make them from) but there was a decent sized table for holding a bunch of extra charcoal that could be pushed into the fire as needed. I was imagining a brake drum being basically welded to the bottom grill, using the bottom grill as a charcoal grill for cooking, or as the fuel table for the forge. You would need to have the grill slats cut out from over the firebox. The "lid" was just an idea to protect the firebox from food drippings and such clogging it up, and to provide an even surface for the charcoal to sit on while in cooking mode.

Also, as ib2v4u stated, the forge fire will get a lot hotter than just a charcoal flame, and you don't want that heat directly on a cooking grill unsupported, as it could very well warp / sag the grill slats. This was another reason for welding up a firebox under the bottom grill. You could even use some heftier supports to help keep things strong underneath. However, if you want to use it for cooking, try to keep a grill type surfacr for the table / bottom grill, as without the forced air like in a forge, the charcoal will burn fairly poorly on a solid table surface. The grill slats allow air to get in underneath so the burning charcoal can breathe
 
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