How to make an easy and cheap blacksmith forge

Most simple forges are pretty much the same and you can easily build one out of some easily found parts. You can do it with some welding or you can do it without any welding at all. I show you, in this video, how this simple forge is made. I give you tips on how to make it and how to improvise your own forge.

The basic set up is an old rusty brake drum with a few pieces of pipe and hair dryer. This is really all you need and you can stand the whole thing up on top of some cinder blocks. In the case of this forge we used the deck from an old broken lawn mower. The deck is the part that protects the spinning lawn mower blade. We simply turned it over and it forms a nice pit for the charcoal.

The next picture shows you the forge we make.

Here is a picture of the basic concept of how the blacksmith forge works.

You can do a lot of improvising with a forge set up like this. As you watch the video you will see that it is just some tubing and a brake drum. You don't even need the shell that is the lawnmower deck. This just makes handling the fire, coal and tools much easier. You can just make the basic set up and then stand it up with some cinder blocks or bricks then you are ready to do some forging!

This picture shows you a close up view under the forge. It is pretty straight forward. The drum brake is on top and the trap door is on the bottom. This trap door remains closed while the forge is going and you open it up to clean out all the fallen soot and coal.

The most difficult thing here is to connect the pipes together and connect the pipe to the drum brake. You can do this all with welding or you can actually use plumbing pipes and thread it all together.

Just be sure you don't use any galvanized piping. It can give off a toxic fume (lead).

Attaching the Hair Dryer to the Tube: It really doesn't matter how you do this. As long as the hair dryer is a reasonable distance from the actual fire pot of the forge. I used some rubber hosing and clamps. You can just use duct tape. If the hair dryer is very close to the fire pot you might want to consider disconnecting the heating coils inside the hair dryer.

The Trap Door: Also doesn't matter too much but you definitely need a trap door. It should have some kind of a way to seal it closed while forging and then easily open it afterwards so you can clean out all the debris and coal.

Here is a quick look into the firepot from the top. Looks great and you should put some kind of screen over the hole so the coal or charcoal doesn't easily fall through. if you use screen you will have to replace it often because the heat of the fire will make it brittle and it will break and melt.

This is a great way to connect the pipes to the drum brake. This is a threaded pipe flange. You thread the vertical pipe into this and then you bolt this to the drum brake. Drill holes as needed so they fit together. Just be sure not to get anything that is galvanized.

\So that's how to make your own forge. It really isn't that hard to do and you can have it done in a couple of hours and once you have some coal or charcoal you will be ready to do some blacksmihing right in your own backyard!

Here is the video that shows you all about this forge and how it is made.

RESOURCES

The Backyard Blacksmith: Traditional Techniques for the Modern Smith

The Backyard Blacksmith shows you how -- with some patience and a working knowledge of metals, basic tools, and techniques -- blacksmithing can be easy to learn, and a rewarding hobby. Through instructions and illustrations, readers will learn to make simple tools and useful items, such as nails, hinges, and handles, and also an interesting mix of artful projects, such letter openers, door knockers and botanical ornaments.

Detailed step-by-step full color exercises teach all the universal skills and techniques used to forge iron; it's like having a master blacksmith by your side
Provides the reader with an understanding of the properties and characteristics of forging hot metal, making the craft accessible to those without previous experience
Over 20 beautiful and function projects organized by difficulty level allow new blacksmiths to progress at their own pace and master the skills they learned in earlier chapters.

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