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Thread: Forge

  1. #1
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    Default Forge

    Can anyone advise me on buying or building a very simple forge, either charcoal or gas powered. I have an old portable bbq that might be a good start. Have viewed several US sites detailing making forges but they tend to be a bit elaborate, and anyway there's nothing like Aussie know-how.
    Rusty

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  3. #2
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    I used to set an old steel car wheel up on some bricks with a bit of wire mesh inside to stop the embers falling down through the hole in the centre of the wheel.

    I stuck a domestic vacuum cleaner hose between 2 of the support bricks.
    Then built up a mound of sand around the bricks and outside of the wheel so the air from the vac went up through the wheel.

    Light a fire in the wheel then coke it up and once burning well turn on the vac
    Use the vac hose connected to blow not suck.

    I used coke but its probably not easy to get these days but I have seen ordinary briquettes used very effectively and charcoal should be ok too.

    Hope this helps
    Regards, Bob Thomas

    www.wombatsawmill.com

  4. #3
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    That's great Bob, just the sort of basic budget job I was after. I've got a shop vacwith blower setting so no worries there. Any problem using any old bricks do you think? (Thinks: explosions).
    Rusty

  5. #4
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    I think I just used old clay bricks,
    I'd be wary of concrete bricks or blocks.
    The bottom part of the wheel rim doesn't get red hot.
    Regards, Bob Thomas

    www.wombatsawmill.com

  6. #5
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    I've got a couple of brake drums off a semi and a stack of those extruded bricks with the holes in them that will be my forge one day. However it's so low on the list of to dos that it's all covered in 2M high guinea grass and lost from view (there's a couple of 5M long hoop pine logs in there as well that I'll have to try and find soon )

    Mick-still trying to forge ahead
    "If you need a machine today and don't buy it,

    tomorrow you will have paid for it and not have it."

    - Henry Ford 1938

  7. #6
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    Charcoal works fine. Find an old log that has been burnt and scrap off the charcoal with a shovel. Keep it stored dry.
    I was heavily into blacksmithing twenty five years ago and fortunately for me there was a blacksmithing club in Mt Lawley - Perth.
    The old blokes were all deaf and real characters and used to amuse themselves by watching their puplils bash the dickings out of a lump of iron. At the end of the night they would come over and demonstrate in five minutes what you had been trying to do all night. It was the old way of passing on the skills and you didn't forget. Once you realised they wouldn't show you twice you had their undivided attention.
    Unfortunately blacksmithing at home caused too many problems with neighbours and I eventually sold the anvils, swage and tongs. I used a hand bellow as I considered it more traditional but it was much easier with an electric blower.
    Thanks for reminding me of a very enjoyable part of my life.
    Cheers,
    Rod

  8. #7
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    All useful information, thanks fellahs. I'm about to start converting the bbq; first question is from what direction does the air need to blow from? Can it come in from the side, or do I need to drill holes in the bottom of the metal dish; does it need holes there anyway for ash to fall through; and doesn't a vacuum cleaner blow everything everywhere?!

    By the way I'm not getting notification of responses to my email box. Unless some of you blokes are deliberately ignoring me (I can take it) I believe you need to use the Reply box at the bottom of the post, not the one in the poster's post (if that makes sense).
    Rusty

  9. #8
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    The vac blew into the side but in effect there was a large plenum chamber under the wheel centre and the air diffused as it travelled upwards through the wheel centre to the fire section.
    Don't recall any ash problems.
    Regards, Bob Thomas

    www.wombatsawmill.com

  10. #9
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    For potential forge builders who may have come across this thread after doing a search for Forge:

    I had one very small forging task requiring flattening the ends, and a 2" section in the middle, of a two metre long 20mm steel rod.

    After extensive reading and research I figured what I needed to do was basically heat the steel to red hot then bash it flat. So:

    1: Bought a 10kg bag of 'heat beads' at Target (some kind of mini briquettes I guess)

    2. Chucked them in the old thin steel bbq base on top of some kindling. (Any metal container would have done, or the fire could even be on the ground, with four bricks around it to create an enclosure.)

    3. Lit it up and got things moving by blowing it with the vacuum cleaner (on blow needless to say).

    4. Stuck end of rod in and continued blowing with vacuum from about 2' (feet) away until rod got red hot.

    5. Bashed ends flat on section of old railway sleeper clamped to solid wooden bench.

    Everything was done outdoors for safety. One end of rod was supported in Triton super jaws while other end was in fire. Smartened up towards end of job by also jamming vacuum end into jaws so I didn't have to hold it.

    Couple of things I learnt: standard hammer does the job, no need for anything heavier. Maximum heat seemed to result when blower was close enought to make fire glow hard, but not close enough to roar too much.

    Purists will no doubt be aghast at all of the above, especially use of briquettes which are said to contain impurites that weaken the steel etc etc, but for the job I had to do i was prepared to take the chance. Flattened sections seem quite strong.

    If there was one thing I gained from the exercise it was admiration/awe at the forging achievements of Ned Kelly and Co working in the bush to make their armours. What a feat! Wonder where they got their briquettes, not to mention vacuum cleaner.
    Rusty

  11. #10
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    We used to have a forge with the hand crank blower and in that the air came from underneath and passed through something resembling a small upturned colandar. To be honest I doubt it matters much, its the air flow onto the burning embers that provides the oxygen and does the job. Your right a small hammer does the job, this forge was for chisels and punches used for stone and a ball pein hammer was the tool of choice. I wasn't the blacksmith my father was the last to use the gear properly I was more heat and shape, never quite mastered the tempering bit. The forge was sold but the rest of the gear is in the shed, one day it might be dragged out and dusted off but so far I've not been sufficiently tempted.

    I've seen a few of the car rim forges, one had a hair dryer with a dud element connected up and it seemed to work OK for the bloke using it. And on the bricks clay with a low moisture content, if they have been lying on a soggy bit of ground they can explode when the moisture expands in the brick.

    JohnC

  12. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by johnc
    I was more heat and shape, never quite mastered the tempering bit.
    JohnC
    In case there is still any doubt about my ignorance of al things metal...on future projects how would I avoid tempering the metal when I only want to heat and shape it? (I had to drill holes in the flattened rod and one end was significantly harder. I assume this was because i had inadvertently tempered it?)
    Rusty

  13. #12
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    Did you happen to drop 1 end into water to cool it down quick, as that would have hardened that end. Better to let it cool down in the ashes and it would be nice and soft.
    Regards, Bob Thomas

    www.wombatsawmill.com

  14. #13
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    Yeah, I did involve the hose on at least one end. Is that how you temper, by heating red hot then rapidly cooling?

    I thought I heard that chisels were softened if you water cooled them when sharpening them on the grinder. Now I'm confused. :confused:
    Rusty

  15. #14
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    Quenching hot steel hardens it and in doing so makes the steel somewhat brittle.
    Tempering is the process of reducing the hardness a little bit so that brittlemess is reduced whilst retaining sufficent hardness for the purpose in hand.

    Quenching tools when grinding them is necessary to prevent them annealing from a slow cooling down.
    Regards, Bob Thomas

    www.wombatsawmill.com

  16. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by echnidna
    Quenching tools when grinding them is necessary to prevent them annealing from a slow cooling down.
    What does annealing mean here? My dictionary says toughen or temper...whay would you want to prevent that?
    Rusty

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