About Building The Forge
I built the forge (the shop equipment and tools for forging and finishing) myself over a period of several months. I started by designating a space dedicated to metal working and forging. The first piece of equipment was the forge (the furnace), followed by several hand tools and hardy tools. My first anvil was a piece of rail track mounted on a wood stump. Later I added a horned anvil that I bought, and fabricated a stand for it. I still use both anvils for different things. About a year later I built a 2×72 belt grinder from scratch using Jer Schmidt plans. About a year after that I added a PID to the forge for temperature control, and mounted it to the forge stand framing.
Photo Gallery Of The Build
For those who are interested in more info “behind the scenes” …
Lots of welding and fabricating!
Here is a photo gallery showing how I built the forced air, propane gas, ribbon burner, forge itself. The housing was made from an old air tank and was lined with cast refractory. The ribbon burner was also made from crafting metal, and the high temp section with holes for the output was cast with refractory directly into the metal section. The doors were made from angle iron and sheet metal, and were also filled on the inside of each with cast refractory.
To eliminate bending over, I made the stand to be elevated to an eye level when working with the forge.
A fan with 2 inch piping supplies the air and is regulated with an inline valve.
For finer temperature control I added a PID (electronic controller) and a thermocouple at a later time, along with some additional gas control plumbing.
Photo Gallery Of The Build
For those who are interested in more info “behind the scenes” …
Lots of welding and fabricating!
Here is a photo gallery showing how I built the forced air, propane gas, ribbon burner, forge itself. The housing was made from an old air tank and was lined with cast refractory. The ribbon burner was also made from crafting metal, and the high temp section with holes for the output was cast with refractory directly into the metal section. The doors were made from angle iron and sheet metal, and were also filled on the inside of each with cast refractory.
To eliminate bending over, I made the stand to be elevated to an eye level when working with the forge.
A fan with 2 inch piping supplies the air and is regulated with an inline valve.
For finer temperature control I added a PID (electronic controller) and a thermocouple at a later time, along with some additional gas control plumbing.