Thread: My forge, up and running

Not quite the fires of mount doom, but it'll do. In fact, it does quite nicely.
Now I can finally start forging in earnest... as soon as the weather clears up of course. Blasted rain.

This is the entire setup. The blower is an industrial fan, which is controlled via a dimmer switch, inside a box made from left-over wood. I already wrote about the firepit earlier. The blower is connected to the forge pedestal with flexible air piping. It is portable which enables me to take it inside, and use it to power my shop VAC.

For a detailed design and more pictures as I was building this setup, you can visit my webpage.
Building a forge | onikudaki.be

Thats great,what are you using as fuel?

Amazing what work you did there. I read your write up. I will put the success of your project squarely on the shoulders of your helper!!

Plain hardwood charcoal for BBQing.

Good stuff man, now you have to start turning out some cutting utensils...the fun part is about to begin indeed.

Nice job there Bruno.

Thanks for the mention in your write up.

The blower box is pretty cool. How does that work with your shop vac?

Nice work Bruno. I am looking forward to seeing some forged razors from your shop.

Stu

Homebuilt - signs of self reliance
Double duty tools by design
Made from recycled materials

Make some tongs next. Then when you can hold hot steel comfortably, you'll have to make your own hammer, then an anvil. This is how it begins...

Originally Posted by Danocon

Nice job there Bruno.

Thanks for the mention in your write up.

The blower box is pretty cool. How does that work with your shop vac?

The VAC is still in progress.
The way it works is simple. I got the idea from a demonstration of a vacuum cleaner a couple of years ago.

The blower box has an industrial fan that can move an enormous amount of air per second (for forging I use it at almost minimum capacity). Above my work bench, I am going to mount a 4" pipe on a swivel arm (so that I can move where it is needed), with a big funnel on the end for capturing air. The piping will lead to a place in the corner where I can connect it to the box, using the rubber ring on the input for making a sealed connection.

The blower will then force the air through a short pipe that ends inside a closed bucket of water, just below the water. Say an inch or so. I've yet to experiment with it. The air will cause a literal tempest inside the bucket, and leave the bucket again through an exhaust that is constructed in a way that water cannot go out.

The storm of water in the closed bucket should capture all fine dust and filter the air. I have seen this work with spectacular results for vacuum cleaners. The big advantage is that you can just pour away the dirty water. Porous solid filters for fine dust are very expensive, and need to be replaced regularly. This is dirt cheap, and everything can be built from cheap DIY stuff.

This is a great move, and sure to contribute to some RAD
Will be watching this thread for more info & news.
Can't wait to see what comes out of the Forge
Congrats Bruno, this is looking very interesting