In the old days, blacksmithing was held in high esteem. Not everyone could master it, not everyone had the opportunity to acquire necessary tool and set up a workshop. Nowadays you can make a forge with your own hands without involving serious funds. Even a simple design will give you the opportunity to heat the metal to the required temperature and try your hand at forging.
Forge
People with creative inclinations who are engaged in design work are often faced with the desire to use decorative metal elements self made. You can make such things using forging.
Thin sheet metal can be stamped, bent or minted without heating. It will not be possible to process a thick workpiece without this. There is no point in trying to make a tool from carbon steel.
If you equip your blacksmith's workshop with a hearth and a massive anvil, you don't have to pay much attention to the thickness of the workpiece. When hot, it will be able to forge, bend and flatten. The main thing in this process is a properly equipped forge.
Perhaps not everyone can do it with their own hands, but for a true connoisseur of the craft who is familiar with the structure, features and operating principle of the device, it will be possible. As experienced craftsmen assure, a simple forge can be built even from six bricks.
Purpose of the forge
The steel blank must be heated to a light orange color before forging. This will approximately correspond to a temperature of 1000-1100° C. In this state, the metal can be subject to deformation by an impact tool.
As the workpiece cools, it becomes less ductile and more difficult to forge. And if you use a heavier tool, the metal becomes brittle and susceptible to cracking. The only option is to constantly maintain the forging temperature. However, temperatures above 1000°C cannot be achieved in a conventional oven. To do this, you need a fireplace with forced air supply.
A hand-made forge can be used to heat metal to forging temperature. In addition, it can also be used for other jobs. It is suitable for melting metal and then pouring it into a mold, for hardening tools, and for soldering using brass and copper.
Types of designs
First you need to decide what type of fuel the metal will be heated with. Traditionally, forges used charcoal or coal (coke) for these purposes. Except solid fuel You can use natural main and liquefied gas, as well as petroleum products (gasoline, fuel oil, white spirit, etc.).
Depending on the type of fuel, the design of the working area of the forge will differ. It will also depend on the method and location of the outbreak. If this is a stationary structure, then it makes sense to make the base massive and solid, using brick and a channel for removing combustion products.
For mobile forge would be better suited lightweight, collapsible version of the hearth. It is convenient because in winter you can work indoors, and in summer, if necessary, the workshop is moved outdoors. Fresh air. This design is easy to disassemble and transport to the desired location.
Another feature is open or closed chamber combustion. If a homemade blacksmith's forge has a vault or round shape, then the metal in it will heat up faster, since heat loss is noticeably reduced. On the other hand, working with long or massive workpieces in the hearth closed type will be impossible, and this must be taken into account immediately.
You should start by choosing the type of base. For a stationary hearth, a brick is suitable, for a mobile hearth - metal constructions. The base should be located on optimal height for ease of use. A fireplace for solid fuel requires the presence of a working combustion zone. It can be lined with fire bricks, lined or made of steel plate.
Another important element- a grate that holds the coals in the combustion zone and gives access to the air flow, which inflates the heat from below. Injection is usually carried out through a pipeline with a flow regulator. The source of boost is a vacuum cleaner with reverse air supply, a hair dryer, a “snail” with an engine from a car heater. There are drawings of a blacksmith's forge, where a turbine from a hand siren or bellows is used, as was done in the old days. The outbreak may have side walls and a vault with a channel for removing combustion products.
The designs of furnaces operating on liquid or gaseous fuel are distinguished by the absence of a grate. The combustible mixture and air are supplied through an opening in the housing. For these purposes, a segment is often adapted thick wall pipe or a used tank from a household compressor, lined with fireproof material. The fireplaces are also laid out in the shape of a cube from heat-resistant bricks.
Principle of operation
Even a person with no blacksmithing experience can assemble a forge from six bricks with his own hands. The device can operate from supercharging gasoline burner. Two bricks are laid flat on the ground - this will be the bottom. Two more are placed on them edge-on - these are walls. Moreover, the back of the bricks is reduced to limit heat loss. Their location can also to some extent regulate the temperature inside the working area. The last two bricks are placed on top - this will be the vault.
The grates can be made from a 4 mm steel strip. Two pieces of half-inch pipe are placed along the walls. Grate bars are placed on them. Moreover, they need to be wrapped in a “propeller” in the central part so that the air flow is captured by the planes and directed upwards, where the coal is located.
The gasoline burner is ignited and directed into the firebox. It can immediately be buried in the ground and fenced off with a sheet of asbestos from the heat of the working area. To do this, a hole is made and a stream of burning gasoline vapor is directed through it to ignite the coal. The temperature is maintained by the burner adjustment valve.
Solid fuel horn
For one-time or infrequent blacksmithing work, you can set up a hearth simply on the ground by digging a recess required size and laying it out with refractory bricks. It is most suitable for heating metal with solid fuel. Another option for table material is a thick (at least 5 mm) steel plate. You will also need to install a grate made of steel strip or cast iron. It can be replaced by steel pipe air supply. Its end is welded. In the combustion zone, the grinder cuts slots through which the escaping air will disperse the heat.
How to make a forge simple and mobile? You can weld a frame from scrap materials and install a steel tabletop on them. The design of the base from a used old one is interesting, convenient and practical. gas stove. A tabletop with a combustion zone is installed on top. The oven serves to house a vacuum cleaner or other source of airflow. At the bottom there is also a compartment for tools and accessories.
Craftsmen consider this type of hearth to be the most economical and effective. Gas is an inexpensive and accessible fuel. The design of the hearth is simpler for it, since there is no need for a grate. Adjusting the gas supply with a tap is convenient, which means achieving the required temperature in work area It will be easier. The design of the forge may consist of a minimum set of elements. It is enough to adapt a suitable base for it.
However, this also has its own characteristics. Gas is an explosive substance, so you need to work even more carefully. Adjusting the supply of the combustible mixture also requires experience and practice. Otherwise, everything is not so difficult. The brick cube is folded according to the dimensions of the planned blanks. The back wall is blank. The hole in front is covered with bricks or a door is installed. A place is installed on top for the entrance of the pipe through which the combustible mixture is supplied. Its length is different schemes is different. There are craftsmen who make it up to 1.5 m long, and they say that mixing the combustible mixture works better this way.
Natural or liquefied gas after the reducer is supplied to this pipe through a nozzle. Air is pumped there. The combustion intensity is regulated by the gas supply and the pressurization speed. When working indoors, it is necessary to install an exhaust hood above the forge. Otherwise, the designs can either become more complicated (lining, thermocouples, forced removal of combustion products, additional dampers) or, conversely, be simplified.
There are no standards for the home craftsman. The main thing is to know the principle of operation, select materials, maintain the technology, obtain the required temperature and at the same time observe safety precautions.
If you are one of those people who melts metal in your hands and you dream of having your own forge, then you need a forge. We invite you to use our example, and you can make a forge for yourself with your own hands, which will help you master the art of blacksmithing.
Carpentry or carpentry is, of course, good. Wood processing is traditional for Rus'. But we want to talk about metal. More precisely, about metal forging. What do you need to start forging? The first is a blacksmith's forge.
You might be surprised, but the forge is the easiest thing to organize a forge.
The task of the forge is to heat a piece of metal to a temperature that will allow it to be crushed without destruction.
The forge is, of course, fire. You can burn gas liquid fuel, fuel oil or crude oil, coal and firewood. Only the firewood produces little heat until it turns into coal. Firewood can only be considered as a raw material for producing charcoal, but now charcoal excellent fuel for the forge. Perhaps the best, but also the most expensive, although also the most accessible. Charcoal for grills and barbecues is sold in any supermarket. So on coal version and stop.
If we talk about a coal-fired forge, then there are two options: with side blast and with bottom blast. Side blowing is ideal for charcoal, and is also the easiest to implement. The simplest option- a hole in the ground where air is supplied through a pipe. You can also line the forge out of brick and cover it with earth.
With the help of such a forge, novice blacksmiths try their hand. A hose is inserted into the pipe and connected to the blowing hole of the vacuum cleaner.
The disadvantage of this forge is that you have to work while squatting, and this is not very comfortable. However, you can put together a box of the required height, fill it with earth and make a forge in it. But since we are going this route, it is worth doing something more thorough. There is one more point. A forge with side blast is not very suitable for coal, while a forge with bottom blast through a grate is more versatile in this regard. That is, a forge with bottom blast can work on both charcoal and stone. But the design will be more complicated.
We will need:
- steel sheet five millimeters thick, about 100x100 cm;
- sheet steel 2 mm thick;
- corner 30x30;
- six fireclay bricks ШБ-8;
- angle grinder, popularly called “grinder”;
- cleaning wheel;
- cutting wheels for cutting steel and stone;
- welding machine and electrodes;
- two wing screws (eye nut).
The forge consists of a table with a forge nest. Below, under the furnace nest, there is an ash chamber into which air is supplied. The table is made from steel sheet five millimeters thick. The size of the table is arbitrary, but it is more convenient when you can freely place working pliers, a poker and a scoop on it so that they are at hand. We cut a strip 125 mm wide from a five-millimeter sheet; we will need it later, and from the remaining piece we make a table.
Scheme of a forge with a forge nest
Cut out in the middle square hole under the future forge nest. You need to decide on the size of the nest. A large nest will require a lot of coal. A small one will not allow heating large workpieces. The depth of the nest to the grate also matters. Without going into details, let's say that a depth of ten centimeters will be optimal, regardless of the size of the nest in plan.
To prevent the metal from burning through, it must be lined (covered) with fireclay bricks. We use ShB-8 brick. Its dimensions are 250x124x65 mm. These dimensions will determine the size of the forge nest - 12.5 cm at the grate, 25 at the top, 10 cm deep. Considering the thickness of the brick, the size of the hole in the table will be 38x38 cm.
From the cut piece we cut out a square with a side of 25 cm. In the center of the square we cut out a square hole with a side of 12 cm. We also need four plates in the shape of an isosceles trapezoid with base lengths of 38 and 25 cm, a height of 12.5 cm. So the previously cut strip came in handy . Now you need to cook it all.
From two millimeter steel we roll square pipe with a side of 12 and a length of 20-25 cm. This will be an ash receptacle. In the middle of one of the walls we make a hole for the air duct. We weld a pipe into the hole. We use a piece of ordinary water pipe 40.
The ash receptacle from below is closed with a lid. We do it with thumbscrews.
The table is ready. All that remains is to place it on the base or weld the legs from the corner to it. You can make the base from foam concrete blocks.
Pay attention to the opening. An air duct will pass through it.
Using a grinder with a stone cutting disc, we cut out the lining from the brick. Be sure to use a respirator and safety glasses. And follow safety precautions when working with angle grinders.
You can connect a vacuum cleaner and try to light the forge.
First, we lay down wood chips and finely chopped firewood. We set them on fire with a weak blow, and when the wood burns well, add coal. Now you can increase the blowing.
The vacuum cleaner can be connected not directly to the furnace air duct, but through homemade regulator air supply. This device allows you to regulate the amount of air supplied to the forge, that is, reduce or increase the blast.
Typically, a damper is installed to regulate the air supply into the duct. But blocking the flow increases the load on the vacuum cleaner motor. An old vacuum cleaner is usually used, and in order not to overload it, an air supply regulator is built. The air flow is not blocked, but is diverted into another duct. For this purpose, a box with three pipes was made. Two opposite each other - the entrance from the pump and the exit to the furnace. The third pipe, on the top wall, is where excess air is discharged. The third pipe is shifted relative to the first two by the diameter of the holes.
Inside is a plate curved at a right angle, half the length of the box. The plate can be moved from one extreme position to another using a wire rod. As far as the air supply hole into the forge is blocked, the discharge hole will open to the same extent.
The box is closed with a lid with a hole for traction.
We now have a working forge suitable for use under open air. To protect from rain, you need a canopy, which must be non-flammable. And the forge needs an umbrella and a pipe to collect and remove smoke.
We make an umbrella from sheet iron two millimeters thick. Firstly, such an umbrella will last longer, and secondly, thinner iron can be welded manually arc welding more difficult.
For an umbrella to be as effective as possible, the slope of its walls must be at least sixty degrees to the horizon. The umbrella should be positioned above the fireplace so that an imaginary beam directed from the point closest to the edge of the fireplace, inclined outward at an angle of sixty degrees to the plane of the table, falls inside the umbrella. This means that the higher the umbrella is above the fireplace, the larger it should be. On the other hand, the lower the umbrella is above the table, the more inconvenient it is to work. Here you need to proceed from the available material and your anthropometric data.
The umbrella is supported by angle steel posts. We place a pipe on top of the umbrella, which we also weld from a two-piece steel sheet. The pipe must be covered with a spark arrester, which we make from metal mesh.
If you direct the air discharged from the throttle through the air duct (it will go water pipe 1 inch) to the beginning chimney, then you get an ejector that increases the efficiency of flue gas removal.
In blacksmithing, a forge is used to heat and preheat metal blanks before heat treatment. The operating temperature in this device rises to 1200 degrees. By design, the device can be stationary and mobile (that is, placed directly in a specially equipped forge or transported to a place convenient for work). For industry, equipment is equipped with various devices, for household use The forge is produced in its simplest form.
Features of a household forge
Due to the high cost of melting plants, not every user can buy such special-purpose equipment. For household needs It’s easy to assemble a gas forge with your own hands given that correct definition shape, power and design of the supercharging system. A simple household forge for artistic forging or casting of non-ferrous metal can be assembled from several fireclay bricks and sheet steel.
Making a forge at home for working with ferrous metal is not difficult. Make the simplest design can be done from a metal container, in the side of which you need to make a hole for a gas burner. The fuel supply system can be assembled from a piece of pipe and coupling, for supporting structure Long bolts will fit under the container. The lining of a gas fireplace is carried out by filling a solution of alabaster or gypsum, sand and water.
The forge must be equipped protective casing, ceramic tube or suitable sized bottle. After lining and drilling a hole for the gas supply, the device is installed in a convenient place, but at a distance from flammable materials. The advantages of the design include the ability to move the furnace and regulate the degree of heating of the workpiece, which is especially convenient when working with different forging materials.
Operating principle of the installation
Before you begin assembling the thermal unit, you need to understand the principles of operation of a homemade forge for forging metal to simplify the design of the furnace for home use. The operation of the device is based on the energy output when burning a mixture of carbon and oxygen, the percentage of metal released in molten form. During the smelting process, carbon stops the oxidation reaction of the metal; constant injection of gas into the fuel quickly increases the temperature in the forge.
The process of heating metal requires certain skills and specific knowledge. It is not enough to assemble a mini-forge with your own hands; you need to learn how to control the supply of oxygen to the fuel, the volume of which should be no more than 95%. If the workpiece overheats, carburization of the metal occurs, the steel becomes brittle, turning into cast iron.
While developing a drawing of the future forging device, Special attention should be given to the type of energetic substance influencing the design of the focus. The type of fuel for the forge is:
- gas (butane, propane);
- liquid (diesel oil, fuel oil);
- solid (charcoal, coke);
- mixed (gas-liquid).
Depending on the planned work and the size of the workpiece, a thermal furnace can have an open or closed hearth zone. For the home handyman It should be remembered that household gas can be used in the forge only after pre-cleaning from sulfur by “driving” through liquid naphthalene. Products made from heated gas burner metal cannot be used as loaded parts.
The main requirement for ensuring the security of the master is the installation of a powerful forced ventilation system, even if a household soldering apparatus running on bottled gas is used to construct the forge. The device will allow you to manufacture decorative elements interior and exterior in your own garage.
Making a stove from a blowtorch
Making a forge for forging with your own hands, blowtorch you need to install it in a recess, along the perimeter of which fireclay bricks with a grate are laid. When laying refractory bricks, it is necessary to maintain the distance between the enclosing elements in order to ensure the flow of air masses into the combustion chamber. The angle of the blocks relative to each other building material determined by the master.
Charcoal or coke is poured into a recess made of bricks on a grate, and a pipe is put on the blowtorch, which is fed under the grate. The blank for forging is placed in the gap between brickwork, the coal concentrate is ignited from below. To remove smoke, a probe, tent or chimney is installed above the grate.
Solid fuel device for forge
The simplest model solid fuel device for a private forge there is an outdoor open stove, which does not require the installation of a ventilation system. The construction of the structure involves pouring reinforced concrete base, at the base of the structure it is necessary to lay wall bricks. The table is installed on comfortable height
, a hole is left in one wall for the blower.
The mountain pit is laid out of fireclay bricks supported on steel corners; a cavity for the grate is left in the middle part of the structure. A chimney or probe will help ensure sufficient draft in the fireplace; the air supply system is installed at the final stage construction work. Installation in the chimney will help increase draft electric fan or installation of blacksmith bellows.
In a home forge, the tank for hardening parts and the gas-air chamber are not mandatory elements. They can be useful in cases where thermal or shock hardening is required when working with damask steel. In the gas-air chamber the following is carried out:
- drying and heating oxygen;
- filtering oxygen from condensate and foreign impurities;
- mixing air with additives for alloying steel.
To smelt precious metals and create an alloy of non-ferrous metals, it is necessary to make a crucible from heat resistant material. The device, made in the form of a cap, allows you to increase the operating temperature in the furnace without the risk of overheating the workpiece and the formation of soot.
Home gas forge
To make a simple home gas forge, you can use parts from an old bicycle. If on lathe grind the sprocket from the gearbox; the device can operate on butane or propane and heat closed furnaces of small volume. An important condition use of a portable design is prohibited from operating the burner with acetylene, since heat the flame can burn the former “star”, and the oven will simply explode.
It is not difficult to assemble such a device, and homemade horn for forging is not much inferior to industrial ones, but is much cheaper. The main thing is to follow safety rules during manufacture and use.
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Some of you are fond of forging, and the main tool for it is the forge itself.
In this article, the author of the YouTube channel “SVAROG Forge” will tell you how to make it using the simplest materials at hand.
Materials.
- Pine board 20X200 mm
- Clay, coal
- Hemp rope
- Old hairdryer
- Hose cut
- Steel pipe
- Corners, wood screws
- Painting tape.
Tools used by the author.
- , cutting disc
-
- , feather drills for wood
- Hammer, anvil, pliers
- Screwdriver, bucket, mixer.
Manufacturing process.
First of all, the master assembles a box for the forge from ordinary pine boards. To connect them together, furniture corners and wood screws are used.
He then mixes the clay using a hammer drill with a mixer attachment. He collected it on the river bank.
To reinforce the solution, the master adds shredded hemp rope, although scraps of fiberglass mesh can also be used.
Now he puts the solution inside the box and forms the bowl of the forge. He selected its dimensions for small blades and workpieces.
The author pours river sand around the bowl. A hole is drilled in the side wall with a feather drill for a tube through which air will be pumped.
He welds a socket like this to one end of the tube. The second end is cut at an angle, this will avoid clogging the tube with ash.
In order to fix the tube to the body, the author welded a couple of nuts to it and screwed it to the body.
When attaching the hair dryer to the tube, he did not invent anything, and tied it to the socket with masking tape. He bought a hairdryer on the market, the cheapest one. A hairdryer with a broken heater will also work. It only requires the injection of cold air. In the case of using a new cheap hair dryer, important point It is precisely the cold air supply mode, otherwise the hair dryer will have to be disassembled and the coil disconnected.
Using a grinder, the author made three slits in the upper part of the tube. Then I put a piece of rubber hose on them. This way it will be possible to regulate the amount of air supplied to the furnace.
Everything is ready, you can load coal and light the forge. This is how he heats up the first blank for the blade.
The temperature is more than sufficient to work with it.
After forging, the master reduces the air supply and hardens the blade in machine oil.
The next test subject will be a sandwich made from two pieces of steel strip and a piece of file.
After forging, this forge looks like this.
Hello humanity, today I will tell you how to make a forge with a temperature of up to 1100 degrees Celsius. In a forge, a forge is used to heat metal before forging, cementing and other heat treatment operations. When working with metal, it is almost always necessary. The forge will be coal, so it will be closer to nature. In addition, it is very reminiscent of the historical forge that our ancestors used. And most importantly, it will be simple, both to manufacture and to use.
We will need the following materials:
- Fire brick. The most common refractory bricks are red and fireclay. Even though I used red, I recommend taking the second one. Because he endures high temperatures, and red may crack and break over time. You only need 12 bricks.
- Fireclay clay. Any refractory clay will do. But fireclay is the most common. I bought a forty kg bag, but it's too much. Ten is enough. It is ideal to take twenty kg, so that if there is clay, you can cover up cracks, make injection molds, etc.
- Construction sand. If yours is not new, like mine, it needs to be sifted through a special screen.
- Iron pipe with a diameter of 25-30 mm.
You will also need some tools and consumables (a bucket, gloves, a hacksaw, etc.), I’ll tell you about them later.
Forge chamber
First, let's figure out what the forge will look like. I visually arranged all the bricks as they would appear in the finished furnace.The blowing will be sideways. Oxygen will be driven into the forge chamber through an iron tube. It needs to be filed at 45 degrees on one side, although I never did this. We insert it into the camera at an angle too. The photographs show how we will lay bricks together with clay.
Let's prepare the clay
I mixed it in a nine-liter bucket. Mix clay and sand in a 1:1 ratio. Next we add clean water. Knead the clay until it reaches the following condition. You need to roll a small ball, put it on one palm, and start pressing it with the other. Cracks should appear when it is squeezed halfway. In terms of consistency, it should resemble... Well, it doesn’t matter what.Next, generously lubricate with clay all the joints between the bricks, all the internal and external parts. This way the heat will remain in the chamber for a long time. Lubricate the joints between the iron pipe and the bricks well with clay. Brick that serves back wall can be left unattached. This way you can move it aside and work with long workpieces. Of the top bricks, I attached only the outermost one with clay. This way the forge can be used both open and closed.
The pipe can also be improved to regulate the air supply. It can be sawed in the middle and threaded on both sides. Now we screw into the part in the furnace a plumbing tee with a tap, something like this:
So, by opening the tap, we can regulate the air supply. But I gave up on that too.
A few words about the air supply itself
Of course, something must force delicious oxygen into this pipe, which will heat the coals in the chamber to hellish temperatures. You can use blacksmith bellows. The kind our ancestors used in their forges. But this is not the most the best option, you need at least a couple of bellows to get the required temperature, and it would be nice to have an assistant who will tirelessly press the bellows.It is much more productive to use electric leaf blowers. For example, a turbine for inflating mattresses. I used an old Soviet vacuum cleaner. You can even twist the hose from blowing in to blowing out, but it broke. I had to tape the bag on the side where the air is blown out.
A little about using the forge
I used it for forging and casting. It melts aluminum and other non-ferrous metals in a matter of seconds. We were able to cast some parts using foam molds in sand and clay molds. He melted aluminum cans in a special crucible. Next, the molten metal was cast into sand and plaster molds.
It is well suited for forging knives or some small metal products. We will talk about making knives from files in my next article.
One of the photos shows a heated forging, however, the color rendition is not at all the same. Due to the bright sun, it is impossible to determine the temperature of the workpiece by color. That’s why the forges used to be in twilight. Here is a video of the forge in action.
Lighting the forge
Everything is very simple here. The forge runs on coals, so you just pour coals into inner part and light them like in a barbecue - using a highly flammable liquid. Next, apply air. In a few minutes the forge will heat up to 1000 degrees, and this is not the limit; the heat will also remain in it for a long time.Blacksmithing can be like unusual hobby, so highly paid profession. Professional blacksmiths receive very good money for their hard work!
