"Backyard Blacksmithing" pounding iron on the forge this evening!

Well nice!

 

Yesterday’s big project.......
Made from a 4’ piece of 3/8” rod with the acetylene torch. Put it right to use last night and again today!

Next up.... my attempt at making a coal forge!

 

Bare with me! I’ve always been interested in blacksmithing and I’ve gotten in to outdoor cooking a bit more and was looking at buying some campfire tools. Well why buy when you can make them?! So that’s mainly how this build started. After some reading and discussing things with the real blacksmith I acquired some parts. Then set to work.....
Using a brake drum as a Firepot I ended up drawing out a bottom plate to bolt into the drum and weld my pipe to.
I’ve not got the steadiest hands but the acetylene blew it out pretty well

 

I had some heavy sheet metal shelve pieces to form a table then used 3/4” gas pipe to make up a frame Added some wheels and doubled up the sheet metal table The big flip! I also drilled a bunch of holes through one layer of the steel and plug welded through to tack the pieces together.
Marked and blew the hole for the Firepot

 

Good start so far. I have a similar set up using a truck drum and can post pics if needed. Just watch the depth of the firebowl. You need a decent mound of coal for a good fire, but if you are heating a piece of long stock in the middle, the bowl should not be so high the work it at the top of the mound.

You'll find ways to modify it to make working comfortable.

I used 1/4" round stock for my tuyere, and with the airflow blowing upwards, it is good condition.

 

Pretty good fit after a little grinder cleanup

Mounted up the pipe and bottom flange and bent up some steel straps and welded on some bolts to tighten the straps to the frame.
I got half dozen rain flaps of all sizes kicking around, finally put one to good use made a nice ash dump. Looks nice from above. Added a tool hanger/handle for easy moving.

 

The next step was laying down some clay. Of course I couldn’t find any locally so why not grab some out of a fill pile at my parents house!
Sifted it out and watered and mixed it in the wheelbarrow. Seemed to lay in pretty nice along with a few fire brick.

Gave it a few days then couldn’t wait so I fired it up with some lump charcoal and my makeshift air source

Using my baby anvil that was my great grandpas that he must have used to set mower section rivets on. I hammered a fire tool out of an old piece of rebar I found in the barn.
After all the fun I cleaned it out and noticed all the cracks in the clay.

 

I was then in the hunt for a blower. Of course my dad had an old electric exhaust blower from a hot water tank. So I just stuck it on to test it out. I also found some fancy stuff in a tube and used it to fill the cracks in the meantime to see how it goes.

Yesterday after a bunch of calls and asking around with people looking at me like I had six eyes, I finally found coal!! A three hour round trip and five hundred pounds on the truck I got some! Haven’t yet wired up or permanently mounted the blower, but I could resist to fire it up and sniff some coal soot!!

 

All that’s left to do is get an anvil, which is proving to be either very expensive or next to impossible to get a used one. I can’t wait to get everything together and start learning though!!! The first project is going to be an adjustable height campfire tripod for hanging a kettle or Dutch oven. Then I saw some cool table utensils the other day to try marking. The possibilities are endless. Oh did I mention not only trying to find an anvil is next to impossible so is finding the time to do any of this!!

 

Target for a canon ?

 

Discus catcher!

 

First little bit of around today had a piece of 5/8 round stock kicking around so I tapped this out. Fffaaarrrrrr from straight!!!
What’s a good thing to use to seal it from rusting? Especially if I plan to use it!

 

I think I saw them reading through the thread at some point. Nice work as always!!! Definitely cool to be able to use and repurpose old iron!

 

Thought you guys might like this. There’s a local history museum/village near us and we went today to wander around a bit. It’s a recreation of a local circa 1899 shop that was in the area. Of course I took somewish I had stood back and took one from outside.

 

On the subject of aprons...
Where could I get a side of full grain leather to make my own?
OR
Where can I find a decent apron that’s not outrageously priced?

 

There's an anvil up for auction ( online auction) the next town over from me.
Showing 1 to 1 of 1 lots
104 - Antique Anvil With Numbering on Front


1 Image(s)


3d 3h 7m

High Bid
87.50 USD



All items sold as-is where-is and are sold untested. No shipping available. 10% Buyers Premium on all items.

 

It will be interesting to see what that goes for. Around here that’s $500 plus all day!!

 

I'm registered, want to put in a bid?