open shop forge

[tony flesher]

I am in the process of not only building the shop but equiping it with everything. so I am thinking up the forge. I have read that steel burns up quickly and has to be replaced. so I dont have axcess to a cast iron fire pot so I thought that a cast Iron sink that is 8" deep and 16" x 29" would work I could srink the size down by using furnace cement. and it could fit into the larger work forge I plan to build from a dock plate. or would the furnace cement make the 1/2" steel last as long as the cast iron??

[Neil Gustafson]

Good Morning,

The "BEST" cast iron fire-pots are made by John Newman in Hamilton, Ontario. Tons thicker than any others that I have seen, by far. Newman Forge & Pattern, 180 Princess St. Hamilton, Ontario.

You can try to make your own with rubbish, you will eventually throw it away when you realize you have wasted a PILE of time and effort.

Merry Almost,
Neil

[Eric G]

how much forging you going to do?if your going to go thru tons of coal a year i would buy a good cast iron firepot that you can replace in 10-20 years...otherwise just go with steel...my portable forge has a 14 ga homemade firepot and it has lasted years i have had to weld small holes a couple of times over the last 10 years...granted i dont use it that much (4 bags of coke a year) but it is still only 14 ga!if you want to do it right tho go with a pre made cast iron firepot ...the one i am using ive had over 25 years and its still going strong ..

[Tom Allyn]

You can try to make your own with rubbish, you will eventually throw it away when you realize you have wasted a PILE of time and effort.

Or you might come up with a decent little forge made out of rubbish that suits you just fine.

[tony flesher]

Or you might come up with a decent little forge made out of rubbish that suits you just fine.

thank you for your information my hole shop is being made from reused materals( rubbish) some would say but its better used than in a landfill or messing up the great land God has given us. I see you have the same Idies is I do thanks for the support. besides $350. for the fire pot is more than I have in my whole 20x20 barn.-shop. will send photos when complete tony

[Randy]

Don't know where you heard that? I built a steel forge and firebox out of 1/4" plate and I got 8 hard years of forging out of it before the sides warped. They did not burn out. The sides still had the heat resistant paint on most of it, too! I've just rebuilt the firebox out of 3/8" plate and expect to double the life and with no cracking like cast iron. This worked because of the angles of the sides and the angle of two slots in the grate. The angle in the grate are slight angled towards the center of the firebox. This helps to stop the fire from spreading and allows more fire control. It's an easy build, too.

[James von Mosch]

You might try this. Just wood, clay and a bicycle wheel. He even made the blower by hand out of wood. His anvil is a corner piece from a D-8 dozer blade. Others were using a piece of rock crusher plate, straight six engine blocks and a piece of bus front axle. All of the forges were made like this and the only used pine bark for fuel. Seemed to work just fine.