Forge in an afternoon

My Nephew came over today and we knocked up a charcoal forge for him to play about with.
He did the cutting/drilling/sanding and I did the small bit of turning and the welding and we managed to finish by 5pm.

I let the nephew set the height and it was his idea to include the removable galv ash guard around the top so I let him go with it.

The blower is the one I constructed last week and detailed in a previous thread.
Attachment 287760

The whole thing is built around a standard plough disc with a 150 mm diam octagon cut into and recessed by 50 mm.
Air is fed from underneath via a 50 mm diam pipe
Attachment 287762
I recommended the 3 hole removable air outlet, and that 9 hole jobby is my nephew's design.

Attachment 287761
Nephew is pretty tall but I still think the forge is too tall for him, if it is he can cut off some of the leg length.

Attachment 287763
Pretty standard underneath with a flippable ash trap door and air attachment

Just another view
Attachment 287764

If the tripod stand looks crooked, it is. :D
Nephew was in a hurry to get it home so I just winged the angles on the stand.
Being tripodular it is very stable.

The rest is up to him.

A question: Did you make sure the galvanized parts won't get hot enough to burn the zinc off? The fumes from overheated galvanized parts can cause respiratory problems (known as "metal fume fever"), limited exposure in someone healthy generally isn't life threatening but repeated exposure can cause long term problems.

ron

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Originally Posted by son_of_bluegras

A question: Did you make sure the galvanized parts won't get hot enough to burn the zinc off? The fumes from overheated galvanized parts can cause respiratory problems (known as "metal fume fever"), limited exposure in someone healthy generally isn't life threatening but repeated exposure can cause long term problems.

ron

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Thanks for the concern. I'm aware of this as I have had a dose of this on a couple of occasions a few years back which is why I installed a vented welding booth in my shed.

The galvanised ash shield won't get hot enough to form ZnO - you can see how far away it is from the fire in the pics below
The shield will quickly become a PITA and I'm sure he will end up taking it off.

The Galv pipe underneath the plough had the galvanising sanded off the hot end before welding the pipe to the recess.

It would be better if there is no galv pipe used but the only 50 mm diam pipe I had was galvanised.
The galv parts will probably still form a small amount of ZnO over time as the odd hot spark or coal falls onto them but as the forging will be done outside it should be OK.

Said nephew was so eager to get started he went off an bought some charcoal and fired the forge up last night and his dad (BIL) sent me these photos.
Heavens knows what the neighbours thought of all of all the clanging and hammering :oo:

Attachment 287792 Attachment 287794 Attachment 287793

Neat!
Shows how easy it is.
A.

Ahh, "The Exuberance of Youth" Bob, if only we could bottle it and sell it to us old pharts eh! :U

Good on you for "investing the time" into your nephew... who knows where it will lead, once he finds out about girls - he will likely forget about the metal or wood working skills for a decade or so (till the novelty wears off) BUT - once he has kids of his own and gets banished to the shed (like the rest of us), he will at least have some skills to fall back on. For this he will always thank his Uncle Bob!. Thats something $ can't buy!
Definitely a :2tsup: effort.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by AndrewOC

Neat. Shows how easy it is.
A.

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Yep - not that hard at all.

Nephew Nick is a trainee stablehand/strapper and has seen farriers do their thing which got him thinking about doing some forging. His interests tend like a lot of young folks to jump around a bit so it wouldn't surprise me if he mucked about with forge for a few weeks and then moved onto something else. Despite this, the build experience albeit brief and too rushed for my liking was I think worthwhile.

Of course he has now rung me up and wants tools, an anvil, etc , etc.

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Of course he has now rung me up and wants tools, an anvil, etc , etc.

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Long as he works with you to make them - why not?. :)
Making something with them - has far more value in todays easy come easy go world, than giving them something!
If he invests time and effort into making something, he's more likely to look after it and keep it!.

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Originally Posted by Timless Timber

Long as he works with you to make them - why not?. :)
Making something with them - has far more value in todays easy come easy go world, than giving them something!
If he invests time and effort into making something, he's more likely to look after it and keep it!.

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That's true although he's fairly scatter brain but I sense some improvement all round as he matures.

Good minimalist approach to the forge build.
A later improvement could be to add a square table around it, that is... a flat sheet with a round hole to fit the forge in, get rid of the ring around it and it can be held up buy some diagonals up from the legs. The table can have an edge of no more than 25mm in flat bar or even the same sheet bent up.
The high rings around forges, just like those built with car rims, make heating the center of anything longer than the diameter of said ring a bummer.

May I suggest a further gift for your nephew ?
Buy him this book:
The Backyard Blacksmith: Lorelei Sims: 9780785825678: Amazon.com: Books
You can't go wrong with $8,90
I got the book and read it cover to cover. When rather basic, it talks about most aspects of blacksmithing from the perspective of a professional with decades of experience, and being a woman, without the marble tower approach found in some of the gurus. Lorelei Sims - Artist/Blacksmith - BLACKSMITHCHIC.COM - Take a Tour of Five Points Blacksmith Shop

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Originally Posted by Marc

Good minimalist approach to the forge build.
A later improvement could be to add a square table around it, that is... a flat sheet with a round hole to fit the forge in, get rid of the ring around it and it can be held up buy some diagonals up from the legs. The table can have an edge of no more than 25mm in flat bar or even the same sheet bent up.
The high rings around forges, just like those built with car rims, make heating the center of anything longer than the diameter of said ring a bummer.

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That sounds like pretty much like what I said to my nephew. :)

The galv ring was his attempt to reduce ash scatter thereby keeping his parents off his back. They only have a small back yard and he's using the forge on a brick patio in between a pool and their shed. He says the ring helps. I suggested he reduced the height of the ring down to half an inch at two places on the ring opposite each other so that he can use these as a "pass thru" to heat longer things.

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May I suggest a further gift for your nephew ?
Buy him this book:
The Backyard Blacksmith: Lorelei Sims: 9780785825678: Amazon.com: Books
You can't go wrong with $8,90
I got the book and read it cover to cover. When rather basic, it talks about most aspects of blacksmithing from the perspective of a professional with decades of experience, and being a woman, without the marble tower approach found in some of the gurus. Lorelei Sims - Artist/Blacksmith - BLACKSMITHCHIC.COM - Take a Tour of Five Points Blacksmith Shop

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Sounds good - I'll look into it.

Meanwhile he has had a go at forging some (medieval style) arrow tips for his long bow. This is no easy task as the metal section that wraps around the shaft has to be forged quite thin so he burnt a couple before succeeding in making one. I'm very pleased with his persistence although I worry about their neighbours.

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Originally Posted by BobL

That sounds like pretty much like what I said to my nephew. :)

The galv ring was his attempt to reduce ash scatter thereby keeping his parents off his back. They only have a small back yard and he's using the forge on a brick patio in between a pool and their shed. He says the ring helps. I suggested he reduced the height of the ring down to half an inch at two places on the ring opposite each other so that he can use these as a "pass thru" to heat longer things.


Sounds good - I'll look into it.

Meanwhile he has had a go at forging some (medieval style) arrow tips for his long bow. This is no easy task as the metal section that wraps around the shaft has to be forged quite thin so he burnt a couple before succeeding in making one. I'm very pleased with his persistence although I worry about their neighbors.

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Metalwork is a noisy business and blacksmith has the added noise from the anvil.
When I don't know any way to quieten down an angle grinder, the anvil noise can be reduced a lot.
If the anvil stump is replaced by a box filled with sand and a floating platform on top to sit the anvil on, the noise will reduce substantially to a dull knock.
The ring can be suppressed with a large magnet under the horn or even a strip of tube rubber attached under the horn and stretched over it...providing you are not using it.
I bet that quite angle grinders would have a big market if ever produced. I bet all it needs is a better gearbox.

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Originally Posted by Marc

Metalwork is a noisy business and blacksmith has the added noise from the anvil.
When I don't know any way to quieten down an angle grinder, the anvil noise can be reduced a lot.
If the anvil stump is replaced by a box filled with sand and a floating platform on top to sit the anvil on, the noise will reduce substantially to a dull knock.
The ring can be suppressed with a large magnet under the horn or even a strip of tube rubber attached under the horn and stretched over it...providing you are not using it.

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Thanks Marc, yeah I am aware of these strategies for anvil noise reduction. Also there is draping a heavy chain around the anvil, but his problem is he doesn't really have an anvil but a 16 mm thick, 150 x 150 mm U section about 300 mm long which rings like a giant tuning fork. I have suggested he clamp the two sides of the U together using some pieces of 4 x2 and a couple of 1/2" bolts - I haven't heard back from him about how that's going.

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I bet that quite angle grinders would have a big market if ever produced. I bet all it needs is a better gearbox.

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I agree - angle grinder noise is the pits.
My solution to quiet metal cutting is where I can to use a small metal cutting bandsaw.
Also I have an old 8" table saw that I put 125 mm thin kerf wheels into and it is much quieter than an angle grinder - not as portable but of course a lot safer and I can use it with water cooling if I need it. I still use angle grinders though but not as much as I used to.

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Originally Posted by BobL

Thanks Marc, yeah I am aware of these strategies for anvil noise reduction. Also there is draping a heavy chain around the anvil, but his problem is he doesn't really have an anvil but a 16 mm thick, 150 x 150 mm U section about 300 mm long which rings like a giant tuning fork. I have suggested he clamp the two sides of the U together using some pieces of 4 x2 and a couple of 1/2" bolts - I haven't heard back from him about how that's going.


I agree - angle grinder noise is the pits.
My solution to quiet metal cutting is where I can to use a small metal cutting bandsaw.
Also I have an old 8" table saw that I put 125 mm thin kerf wheels into and it is much quieter than an angle grinder - not as portable but of course a lot safer and I can use it with water cooling if I need it. I still use angle grinders though but not as much as I used to.

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Yes, he could also weld a flat bar across the U to stop the vibration.
I never used a bandsaw but have a cold saw that makes life easier.