Another thing I’ve become interested in is blacksmithing. I’ve learned how to weld and do some basic metal work but thought this might be fun to learn as well, and would give me a bit of an upper body workout too. But, getting into something like that can be expensive, so I decided to give it a try before investing much into it, to make sure I actually liked it.
To get started I decided to build a forge that can run off of wood, charcoal, coal, or coke (a coal derived product where the impurities have been burned out of it in an oxygen free environment). Now none of these fuels are “green”, which I struggle with, but I bought some coke because it seems to be the most energy dense fuel and is at least somewhat cleaner than coal, but it still sucks.
To make the forge I used some extra metal I had sitting around from previous projects, including some old brake drums from an old car in rebuilding. The construction is simple and quick if you have the tools.
Parts listed from top to bottom:
Brake drum
2” pipe flange
8”x8”x1/8” steel plate with a hole cut in it for the pipes to go through
2” pipe nipple
2” pipe tee
2” pipe length 6” long
2” pipe cap
Square tubing for legs
3” bendable ducting from pipe tee to hairdryer
Cheap hairdryer
Now I need to find the time to put it to use and try to make some tools, like tongs, so I can start trying to make other things. Should be fun, although it’s about to start heating up for the summer so maybe I can do this at night. But I am going to widen the stance of the legs first for a little more stability.
