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So I've upgraded my forge now I have a but more confidence however I pulled this design from a blacksmith on YouTube. In principle it works. My steel goes orange nicely however, the yellow part of my fire in as lower than the rim. Yet I see multiple blacksmiths use coal forges where they have a nice pile of fire on the top. Where am I going wrong? I'm having to Bury my steel int the coals to get it hot and so cannot heat the sections I need. (the attached forge does have coal in it now before someone says that is the problem) The second image is where I've had to expose the core to get any heat The last image is how it's meant to look but doesn't

I'm a newbie getting a shop together on a budget. I have one inch tread plate steel for material. After doing some research I want to make a coal/charcoal forge that is water cooled like an English side blast forge but bottom blast on an electric blower. My question is...couldn't I make a fire pot with a connected tuyere go into a one inch plate (hearth) and under that plate, a few inches of water connected to a tank of water like a side blast forge. So basically the fire is sitting in a one inch thick inverted pyrimid, partially submerged surrounded by water on the bottom. With the outside pipe of the tuyere going through water for a few inches then coming out of the bottom to the ash dump and blower... why cant I find anything like this? Am i missing something? Or will all that water keep the it from getting to the proper temp? It sounds like it would be really efficient and keep everything from melting/wearing in my head. Even maybe a connection for a garden hose to cirrculate fresh water in. It would never melt ?? I really want to build this and start forging. any input appreciated. Thanks.

Hey guys I'm back and I'm wondering how I should build my new coal forge. The one I currently have is a fire extinguisher that I cut in half and attached a shop vac to the bottom. It works but I can only heat blades two to three inches long. So I'm wondering if there's a better way.

I use propane the vast majority of the time because usually I'm only doing blades, but there have been some projects which I have wanted to do, making things for around the house like a new corner shelf for the upstairs bathroom and the like for which my propane forges are too restrictive in their size to do larger pieces of ironwork. I learned with coal and used to demonstrate with coal, but after I stopped demonstrating I sold my coal forge to another who was starting out. One of the problems with the old forge and most coal forges in general is they're big, heavy, and hard to move around. At the New England Blacksmith's spring meet this year, one of the projects was to build 6 new coal forges for the NEB trailer for setting up green-coal at the NEB meets. The new design NEB forge would be take-down, with interchangeable parts, and stack-able, and much lighter weight. The 6 forges would take the same space as the one prior forge, and all 6 combined would weigh about the same as the one they are replacing. NEB also has cast for the club their own fire-pot design which is much heavier duty than those commercially available elsewhere. I've owned an NEB firepot for some time but still had never got around to fabricating a forge, but with the new NEB design it fit my purposes perfectly. Since I use propane most of the time, I wanted any coal forge I had to be able to be put away without taking too much space. Bob Lavoie of Lavoie welding and fabrication had cut out all the parts for the NEB forges with his CNC plasma table and did the bends with his big press brake, and at the meet I asked him if, since he already had the design programed, I could buy a 'do it yourself' kit from him and build my own. The original NEB forge You can see the stacked forge tables in this image from the spring meet, and the un-finished hoods and legs, This was also a perfect chance for me to learn and practice welding. I helped out at the spring meet and got enough tips from real welders to go home and actually stick pieces together. While nothing to write home about, at least it looks sorta right. The sockets on the bottom are made to fit the legs without the need for bolts, by welding an angle iron to the inside of the gussets to make tall sockets., but I may in the future drill some holes and weld some nuts and add some T bolts to remove the little bit of wobbliness The firepot drops right in, although the clinker breaker handle gives it a bit of a hassle lifting straight up and down cleanly. The tuyre is fabricated, not cast. The hood goes on the short-side of the table, hanging out behind the back. A pair of tabs are welded to the sides to bolt through the top of the table to give stability. Most of the welding in this project is actually in the hood. After welding the top and back in, the support for a 10 inch stove pipe, made from a strip of steel bent in a circle, and the front draft scoop for the hood need to be welded on still, as well as the tabs for the hood and the bases of the feet. All complete! By the time I was done my welds were noticeably better than when I started, and I even got to the point where I could push the capacity of the welder itself. Unfortunately my welder is not very high powered, it's just a Lincoln 110v Mig designed for auto-work, and I did all this with a roll of flux-core rather than getting shielding gas. I did get to the point where i was tripping the 20a circuit breaker welding though and pushing the duty cycle of the machine. I kind of regret having not spent more on a 220v welder when I bought this one years ago, but it did the job fine, and this is the first time i've really had to use it beyond ugly 'gorilla welds' on the frame of a truck or car. As you can probably see, my shop is a jammed packed MESS with far too much equipment and far too little space, another reason why I need the coal forge to not take up much room when not in use. I have a Champion 400 pedestal blower for the coal forge, but i may also fix up an electric blower for compactness and portability, since the pedestal blower is kind of a pain to take places, the total loss oil system tends to leave a mess if you lay it down.

So a few years ago I traded a small anvil for an old coal forge. This thing's a beast, but it is solid and came with an electric blower that is variable speed and still works. Looking down into the forge area, it used to have a lot of white-yellow stuff around the fire-pot that I assumed was some sort of castable refractory. It got wet (several times) and the stuff has pretty much dissolved, so I'm not really sure what it was. The question is this: Should I replace that stuff? If so, what should I use?

As a few of you know, I've been working on a book for bladesmithing newbies on finding and getting the tools needed to start out bladesmithing, and I need some example photos on coal forges. I don't currently have a coal forge nor access to one, and almost all photos on the internet either are copyrighted or would take forever to get permission to use. So do any of you have photos of your solid fuel forge that shows the main parts (bowl, hotspot, air source, etc.) in one photo? Just to be clear, these would be published publicly, and used in this book which I am selling for profit (aka to get better tools ). Will of course credit the original owner if you want me to. Thanks, Caleb.

Hello. I'm new to the forum, and relatively new to bladesmithing. At least new to creating knives with a little bit of knowledge. A friend of mine is using my forge (and what little I know) to make a Tai Chi sword from a piece of rebar. We first flattened it (meaning I held it and he did the beating--it's his sword, after all), straightened it, and he has been working it over on a belt sander to clean it up. I know rebar isn't the greatest steel for a blade, but it's got some spiritual significance for him. I understand how to harden it, but how do I temper the center of the blade without softening the edges? For heating, I have a coal forge, and an acetlyene torch. For quenching, water (I can make brine), and used motor oil. Thank you again, Buck