Is there a setup that I can use as a forge that will cost less than £10? I'm guessing some breeze blocks, charcoal, coal and a vacuum cleaner or something. Just wondering if it can be achieve, or if anyone has had any successs with one.
Forge for less than £10?
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http://ironangelforge.blogspot.com/2009/08/basic-blacksmithing-building-bucket.html
I think that set up would run to less then a tenner
I made one for free (very similar to the link above). All from a skip! I used a 20 litre paint tin (used to hold red oxide) with a car wheel on top. Made a hearth of clay (cat litter and sand) and drilled another piece of scrap metal plate to form the tuyere. For bellows I used a broken leaf blower from a garden machinery repair shop and the back half of a push bike donated to me on freecycle. The outer rim of the wheel drives a belt atached to the centre of the fly wheel on the blower. A bit of mammoth tape, scaffold bar and a snug hole into the side of the paint tin and you're away!
There's many ways to do it, you could just dig a hole in the ground and run a pipe back to some bellows. I chap on another site uses a biscuit tin full of sand and a hair dryer and he forges some decent turning tools with that. Just try to adapt whatever you can get your hands on really. I find the building more fun than the forging!
Leo
There's many ways to do it, you could just dig a hole in the ground and run a pipe back to some bellows. I chap on another site uses a biscuit tin full of sand and a hair dryer and he forges some decent turning tools with that. Just try to adapt whatever you can get your hands on really. I find the building more fun than the forging!
Leo
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cheapest forge I can think of would be totally free of charge:
shallow hole in ground (such as my iron age forge that I demo with). fertilizer sack and duck tape for the bellows, though a hair dryer/vacuum/blower would be less hard work. The only thing to pay for there is fuel!
shallow hole in ground (such as my iron age forge that I demo with). fertilizer sack and duck tape for the bellows, though a hair dryer/vacuum/blower would be less hard work. The only thing to pay for there is fuel!
Thank you people. will be trying. How long would it take to get the forge up to carbon steel temp using only coal / charcoal?
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A very simple forge which I have used to forge a knife with can be made from an old sweet tin and a few other bits,
1. Make a type of fire clay/cement, mix clay with ash 60/40 and water
2. Get a 1inch in diameter long metal tube (I used and old piece from a swing set) !!!Burn off the galvanization!!!
3. Drill a row of 6mill holes in the tube,
4. Cut a slot in the sweet tin to fit the pipe into and make sure the holes in the pipe are as long as the width of the tin,
5. Create 2 sloping walls on each side of the pipe with the clay/ash mixture
6. Add a plastic bag bellows or a hair dryer to the end of your pipe which acts as a tuyere.
Fire the clay with a fire without forced air to harden it before using the forge
This is basically a Tim Lively designed forge simplified so that it can be made from materials laying around the house!
I'll try and get a few pics up!
1. Make a type of fire clay/cement, mix clay with ash 60/40 and water
2. Get a 1inch in diameter long metal tube (I used and old piece from a swing set) !!!Burn off the galvanization!!!
3. Drill a row of 6mill holes in the tube,
4. Cut a slot in the sweet tin to fit the pipe into and make sure the holes in the pipe are as long as the width of the tin,
5. Create 2 sloping walls on each side of the pipe with the clay/ash mixture
6. Add a plastic bag bellows or a hair dryer to the end of your pipe which acts as a tuyere.
Fire the clay with a fire without forced air to harden it before using the forge
This is basically a Tim Lively designed forge simplified so that it can be made from materials laying around the house!
I'll try and get a few pics up!
OK, here's a better idea - DON'T USE GALV. Seriously. If you really, really have to use galvanised metal, pickle the zinc off with brick cleaner or something; it's a lot safer than inhaling the resulting vapours.
As for breeze blocks, Thermalite-type blocks stand up to forge use quite well (providing they're dry) and there's all sorts of ways of rigging an air draft - personally, I really like the Japanese-style box bellows. You can get to (and past) welding temperature in very little time for relatively little effort with them.
If you want to go down the ash route, then you don't actually need clay - just wood ash works so long as it is put in place damped.
Certainly like to see some photos on this thread.
I've used all sorts of things from the kitchen range to a pile of singles on the ground, but its about time I got something decent sorted out!
ATB
Ogri the trog
I've used all sorts of things from the kitchen range to a pile of singles on the ground, but its about time I got something decent sorted out!
ATB
Ogri the trog
John, i like that method a lot, but I also find it quite amusing! I don't know why, I can just picture you buying a new hairdyer...
What kind and how much fuel do you use?
Regards,
Ph34r
What kind and how much fuel do you use?
Regards,
Ph34r
the same as slammer 187 said, but with out the galve pipe, but make sure its steel or iron not alloy as it may melt.....this is what i did.....
kit needed...
biscuit tin
non galve metal pipe
b&q fire cement (about £6-8 )
hair dryer or air pump of some sort
tape
how to make:-
1 cut a hole in the biscuit tin as close to the bottom as possible the size of your pipe (about 1" round is good) so it runs the length of the tin.
2 slide you pipe into the hole all the way until it reaches the other side, make the length with a marker/pencil.
3 take a haksaw and cut slots about 1/2 inch gaps half the way down the pipe along the whole of the length thats inside the tin making sure they stay level.
4 insert the pipe and use the fire cement to hold it in place making sure not to block the slits made, make the cement curv up from the middle in a "u" shape to hold the carcoal.
5 leave to set for a bay or 2 without moving, now set a small fire to set the cement fully.
6 to use the forge place some shavings small sticks kindling in the bottom put some charcoal on top and light as normal. when it gets going add more charcoal (so its piled up rounded on top) this is so you can place the metal into the hot ashes. now tape the hair dryer blower into the pipe and only turn it on when you put the metal into the ashes (as this uses the charcoal up more quickly). it wont take long to heat the metal only about 3-5 mins. lay the metal along the length of the pipe so it gets even heating.
hope this helps....its easy and costs next to nout......it also works well with small pieces, if you want to do bigger pieces just use a bigger tin/container......
Chris.......
kit needed...
biscuit tin
non galve metal pipe
b&q fire cement (about £6-8 )
hair dryer or air pump of some sort
tape
how to make:-
1 cut a hole in the biscuit tin as close to the bottom as possible the size of your pipe (about 1" round is good) so it runs the length of the tin.
2 slide you pipe into the hole all the way until it reaches the other side, make the length with a marker/pencil.
3 take a haksaw and cut slots about 1/2 inch gaps half the way down the pipe along the whole of the length thats inside the tin making sure they stay level.
4 insert the pipe and use the fire cement to hold it in place making sure not to block the slits made, make the cement curv up from the middle in a "u" shape to hold the carcoal.
5 leave to set for a bay or 2 without moving, now set a small fire to set the cement fully.
6 to use the forge place some shavings small sticks kindling in the bottom put some charcoal on top and light as normal. when it gets going add more charcoal (so its piled up rounded on top) this is so you can place the metal into the hot ashes. now tape the hair dryer blower into the pipe and only turn it on when you put the metal into the ashes (as this uses the charcoal up more quickly). it wont take long to heat the metal only about 3-5 mins. lay the metal along the length of the pipe so it gets even heating.
hope this helps....its easy and costs next to nout......it also works well with small pieces, if you want to do bigger pieces just use a bigger tin/container......
Chris.......
oh forgor to say DONT USE COAL!!!!!!
i have used coal before which is totaly great for heat BUT tend to eat into the metal quite a bit, NOT GOOD!!!!!!
Home made charcoal is the best as you cant now seem to buy just charcoal not pre soaked in lighter fluid......
hard woods burn for longer but soft woods burn hoter but for not as long.....
again hope this helps.............
Chris.....
i have used coal before which is totaly great for heat BUT tend to eat into the metal quite a bit, NOT GOOD!!!!!!
Home made charcoal is the best as you cant now seem to buy just charcoal not pre soaked in lighter fluid......
hard woods burn for longer but soft woods burn hoter but for not as long.....
again hope this helps.............
Chris.....
Ha! I got the hairdryer from a workmate... FOr fuel I just used a bag and a bit of B&Q lumpwood.
THe gas bottle was found on a cyclepath, the scaffolding was by the side of the road, but I did buy the ductape....
I think I might try the fire cement as a lining, it sounds a good idea...
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Very little time, though depends how hard you are blowing it and on your fuel. English hardwood charcoal with a good blow can be working temp in less than 5 minutes, coal or nasty foreign hardwood charcoal/briquettes takes a bit longer.
I know nothing compared to the people above, but I just heat treated my first blade and my observations are that doing a backyard standard job shouldnt be too hard. I just used a steel firepit filled with asda lump wood charcoal and a hair dryer played directly onto the coals. One thing worth mentioning is that the "direct blasting" method actually localised the heat fairly specifically, so if your doing a big blade the importance of the "tuyre" (?) becomes obvious. I was heating an eight inch blade and the first couple of tests on the magnet showed only local demagnetization, basically local to where I'd directed the dryer. I think you could forge a small blade no probs though..well, at least it would be doable anyway. Hope no one is offended at a non-forger chipping in.
PS It was great fun, do it!
PS It was great fun, do it!
Oh yes, we all are. God damn non- forgers! OFF! Be gone foul being!
Just kidding, alll advice is appreciated.
What about using some fire bricks from an old storage heater, they should hold the heat.
I picked up 16 of them that were dumped outside someone's house, the owner was please to get rid of them.
I have spied another dozen waiting to go to the dump just across the road from me.
I picked up 16 of them that were dumped outside someone's house, the owner was please to get rid of them.
I have spied another dozen waiting to go to the dump just across the road from me.
That's just the problem. They are designed to hold heat - so they take ages to warm up in comparison with, for example, soft firebricks. They don't reflect well (nor are they designed to). Got some, I use them as a shield for brazing outdoors occasionally, but they really are all-but useless.
Here's two forges that I've made
[video=youtube;eCl6RtNAoMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCl6RtNAoMU[/video]
[video=youtube;31G6CMh0DLI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31G6CMh0DLI[/video]
[video=youtube;eCl6RtNAoMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCl6RtNAoMU[/video]
[video=youtube;31G6CMh0DLI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31G6CMh0DLI[/video]
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