DS Forge.

My DS also makes a great forge. Started making knifes out of old rasp files and was thinking about making a forge. Then it dawned on me to just use the DS. Worked great! But I will need to make a forge this spring. Saw some cool vids on youtube, making brake drum forge. Just a thought. Ciao.

Here's one I built back in '07. I used a brake rotor from my then F-450. The 14.5 rim from a mobile home makes a perfect fit for a holder for the rotor. 2" pipe fittings used... The rest just items I had laying around. I first used the exhaust side from a $1.00 yard sale shop vac. The whine got on my nanny after a couple hours, so broke down and bought a 140 CFM squirrel cage blower from epay. A world of difference, and makes it a lot more enjoyable..!! Air flow is controlled by the waste gate at the bottom. Didn't think to get a picture of the tyre in the bottom of the bowl. 3/16 steel, perforated with like 7, 3/16" holes. More would not hurt... But as you can see, it does make a nice fire with the waste gate closed..., LOL... Just wanted to see what it would do with it closed...

I usually run it about 1/2 to 2/3 closed when playing... Just a nice lick of flame off the coals, and will melt down a horseshoe in about a minute. I dabble in horseshoe art, and most generally put a shoe in, and count to 30. You'll usually start seeing sparks @ about the 25 count. I am using #5 bit. stoker coal.

You can see the cage blower in another thread I started this morning, Heat Shield/Heat Extractor. I used quick disconnect connections, so as to switch to the forge when needed.

Attached some close ups... Nothing fancy, but maybe give you some ideas, along with others from the youtube video's.

That's pretty neat, what does one do with a small forget like that?

As mentioned, I dabble making items out of horseshoe's. Here is one of them... Great therapy for venting one's frustrations at times... I also make Welcome signs. Fashion letters from shoes, using the forge. Made a jig to weld the letters together on the backside, so as not to see the welds. The hardest part is cleaning them. But I've been experimenting with electrolysis to remove rust. Works great..!!

Something to do in the spring when it's warm, but too muddy to do much of anything.

Wow, that's really neat. Do you sell the things you make? My wife would probably like something like that.

I destress by playung video games.

That's a sweet looking forge! Got my first knife done today. Try to get some pics. I'm not a blacksmith but I think i'm getting the bug to give it a try. I swing a hammer all day on stones, might as well hit some metal when I get home.

I'm On Fire wrote:Wow, that's really neat. Do you sell the things you make? My wife would probably like something like that.

I destress by playung video games.

I have sold a few, but seems most goes to silent auctions, raffles, etc. for our horse clubs treasury. This particular piece brought $80.00 at a silent auction shortly after I made it.

I saw one online like this a guy in California was making, and asking $400.00 ea. Just wanted to see if I could make one. Actually took the biggest part of 2 days cleaning, forging, then welding together.

Paisan wrote:That's a sweet looking forge! Got my first knife done today. Try to get some pics. I'm not a blacksmith but I think i'm getting the bug to give it a try. I swing a hammer all day on stones, might as well hit some metal when I get home.

I'm not a blacksmith by any means. My great grandfather was though... Sure would have been neat to watch him make stuff..!! But he passed many years before I was even born.

It is rather fun, and interesting to make "stuff". But again, it is usually in the early spring, when it's too muddy to do much, and I don't feel too guilty taking time to do this. Beats sitting in front of the boob tube...

I got a Harbor Freight anvil when they were on sale for $20.00. Not the best, but good enough to do this sort of thing, so don't have a lot invested.

nice ! I use my WM as a forge from time to time it works all too well!

you know that Wheel idea is a good one! I have a bucket of castable refratory cement . I wonder if I molded the stuff in and left the hole for the blower if that would work pretty well. Will have to try and report

Good stuff!

You guys that dabble in decorative iron need to check out http://www.anvilfire.com/ I found it when I was playing with making pattern welded knives.

Outstanding DJ---Hey Josh--YUP, that's just what ya need for to fill in all that free time ya have--time for a new project, ya been slackin my friend

Smokeyja wrote:nice ! I use my WM as a forge from time to time it works all too well!

you know that Wheel idea is a good one! I have a bucket of castable refratory cement . I wonder if I molded the stuff in and left the hole for the blower if that would work pretty well. Will have to try and report

Good stuff!

DJ54 wrote:I got a Harbor Freight anvil when they were on sale for $20.00. Not the best, but good enough to do this sort of thing, so don't have a lot invested

I have a 16" long chunk of rr track. This will work until I find a anvil. Planning on hitting flea markets and craigs list for more blacksmith stuff. Never been in a harbor freight. Trying to only use tools made in USA. Just my little way of getting back at the man.

DJ54 wrote:...I am using #5 bit. stoker coal...

DJ - I did a little light reading on blacksmithing, but I don't understand why bit is used instead of anthracite. Is this just an availability issue?

hotter, faster, easier. Definitely NOT more available than anthracite, at least in the east.

I always wondered that myself, as at the hardware store near me I can buy anthracite coal, or Blacksmith Coal, which is a bituminous lump coal.

I was always under the assumption that blacksmiths wanted more of a coke or charcoal though due to the properties in the fuel being imparted to the steel, but I am not a blacksmith and just a machinist/welder.

To that end, I read this in my Great Uncle's Autobiography, written about his life as a boy here in Maine in 1836. It tells how him and his brother made a bartering arrangement for a Base Viol with a blacksmith and what they had to do to make the fuel the blacksmith needed.

Forestalling a little, my chum brother Samuel and I, a few years later, took it into our heads that there should be an accompaniment to that fiddle. Having heard of an ancient cello (“base viol” it was called in those days) that was offered for sale by a blacksmith in Dixmont. We went to see him, got his offer to sell it for 100 bushels of charcoal, if my memory is correct, obtained Father’s consent, closed the bargain with him, and set about its fulfillment, doing the work of burning the charcoal mostly in overtime after doing our regular work. Wood in four-foot lengths was cut by twilight and star light and moonlight, stood up endwise, covered with straw and dirt, set on fire in several places – which were covered after setting, after which came the weary nights of watching for ten or twelve days lest the fire break out, and, getting past control, the kiln is lost. Finally the smoke ceases, a few days smouldering and it is ready for uncovering and raking off. The hay rack is lined with boards, 100 bushels loaded, and the steers haul it to Dixmont, bringing back the cello in its green baize covering, the reward of perseverance.

I am not sure it would be worth it to go through all that today, but I believe charcoal and coke is the preferred fuel for authentic blacksmithing.