Thread: I did it boys, made a forge

finally got my forge up and running last night. It worked pretty well for a first attempt.
It was made out of an old BBQ gas bottle. I bolted an old pipe to the bottom (Dont have any easy access to a welder at the moment) and lined it with some cheap clay.
I hooked it up to a hair dryer for this run but will probably change that.
I would like a little more control over the air flow on the next run so I will be thinking of ways to modify that aspect.





Here it is after I topped up the charcoal, Its also when I thought "Oh man my wife's gonna S#!t if she comes out now"



The clay didnt stand up to the punishment as well as I would have liked, might re-line it a little different next time.

It all worked out pretty well. Made me realize I have a whole lot to learn, but a lot of fun to be had too.
I just started with annealing some steel for my first couple of projects...next comes figuring out grinding.

Thanks heaps to Mike and Bruno who have given me plenty of practical tips along the way.
Grant

I'm afraid that I am going to have to classify this as (censored) awesome!

Very nice. Thanks.

That is awesome. I will have to remember this for when I make my own.

Looks like you've got plenty of air. You could use a rheostat to turn down the rpms on the hair dryer or you could put a simple gate valve in the pipe after the hair dryer.

The wire mesh in the bottom will not last long, but treat that as a consumption item along with the clay. Eventually you'll settle on a good recipe for both. Professors Trial and Error are great teachers!

Good job.

Good stuff man!

Keep in thought that I have yet to make a forge, but what if you used the other half of the bottle with the insulation in-between, kind of like a scuttle to keep the heat in the bowl?

Originally Posted by jdto

I'm afraid that I am going to have to classify this as ****** awesome!

Jack took the words right out of my mouth

Originally Posted by jdto

I'm afraid that I am going to have to classify this as ****** awesome!

yep, also took the words outta my mouth too! lol...

Thats cool Grant. Always neat to see the ingenuity of the members here! Thanks for sharing and cant wait to see what comes out of that baby!

Thanks for sharing, pic 4 is a crowd pleaser!.
Mike