Thank you for letting us closer into your magical space. Many new ideas for us to tap into. You keep what you have by giving it away!. May you grow from strength to strength Sir.
Ive seen a lot of forge arrays. From high-end, top-of-the-line, everything controlled by buttons and switches, down to a guy with a brake drum for a forge, a wooden box with some dowels and a few scrap pipes for a bellows and a railroad track for an anvil. Your setup seems to be my favorite so far, and i have no shame admitting its due in part to the "top hat" covering the chimney stack. I giggled like a child when then thing popped up
Cool video. I made a coal forge, then I tried to buy coal. Not sold in California USA. Then I made a propane forge, best move ever! I use forced induction burners I made myself and used fire bricks from Lowes. I still use the coal forge with charcoal for bigger pieces that do not fit in the propane forge. I like your air baffle for control, I used a tee inline and made and adjustable cap on one end to bypass air or close to use all air. Forge On!!
Thanks Torbjorn! Great to see the details of your forge. Quite the setup and quick to go to work...nice and efficient. Thanks again for sharing your passion with us. ~PJ
amazingly thought out device. nothing extra! everything is beautiful and practical. If ever come to Sweden, be sure to come to visit to admire your studio
Very similar to mine. I had a hexagon-shaped piece of 3mm plate left over from a job and so used that for the forge bed base. It's about 28 inches across the corners and thus about 24" across the flats. I welded some pieces of 3mm plate as side 'cheeks' along four of the flats, to prevent the coal falling off the side. They're about 6 inches tall. The two remaining sides are positioned front and rear and left open. The front is where the work-piece is inserted and the rear is for long work that has to be fed through the fire and out the rear. I have made another piece that closes off this rear side if I don't need it open - for short work. In the centre is a cut out hole about 10" x 8" that accepts a firepot, also made from 10mm plate as your original. My up-draughting air tube is just 2" diameter however. The final tube is a stainless steel pipe with a threaded stainless pipe cap. The cap protrudes through the base of the firepot. My firepot is a little deeper than yours but the protruding cap makes up the difference. The pipe cap is of course drilled (5 holes) to allow the air blast. I have an almost identical ash dump, but no clinker-breaker. I clean it out thoroughly about once a month, down to vacuum-cleaner standard. Get rid of all the ash build up which does conveniently fall below the level of the air cap onto the firepot base. There isn't a blemish on the firepot istself. It's scoured like new steel almost. My fan is one of those used under a jacuzzi-type bathtub. I wired a 500W dimmer switch inline and use that to control the blast. There is an air gate as well. I find it very controllable. Hood and flue is overhead but no fan involved. I have very good draw on the flue so no need for a fan. I also start the main fire with a double handful of charcoal, although I use one scrunched-up piece of newspaper and a small pyramid of thin sticks to begin. We love our fires. Thanks for showing yours.
Really nice, i will be making a smaller one shortly & have just today done a deal on a anvil i spotted in a scrap yard £70.00 & it comes with a cast iron stand . can't wait to get started.
Well, energy-wise it's obviously quite inefficient. I'd bet no more than 3...5% of heat goes into treated materials at best (and this is optimistic assumption).
Amazing...and thank you sir for demonstrating ur craft...we all wondered what tools were used for and what type of come u use for ur forge...that’s is what u soften steel with? U make such marvelous creations! Thank you sir for showing us ur mastery and how u make use of the tools to complete ur tasks! Be safe in these trying times! Best wishes to u and ur family.
Hi, I just picked up an old forge, similar to yours more or less. Now to build the side draft. Looking forward to tinkering with it. Thanks for your excellent videos!
Hi Torbjorn, I noticed your air valve is a choke valve, consider converting it to a bypass valve. A choke valve constrains the airflow putting strain on your blower (that, being a burner blower, is designed to flow freely). A bypass valve vents unneeded air in the environment, so that the blower always blows freely, while just the desired airflow goes to the tuyere.
Great video and setup. I'm liking that retractable hat for your flue. I've only been using gas lately and I have been missing coal, this video really has me wanting to go back to coal or using charcoal. Thanks for showing us your setup.
When I watched your latest video and saw the fire being sucked sideways into the side draw, I automatically assumed you had a extractor fan in the chimney to get such a powerful draw on your forge, but no - as I have seen in this video, it is natural = as you have such a powerful draw on your chimney, that is not easy observable with an open fire/a stove as the fire goes up. I live with my parents in a terraced Victorian house with 2 open fireplaces - master bedroom/lounge, and when there is a stormy wind blowing over the terrace (easterly/westerly wind) that the air is sucked up the chimneys causing a negative pressure in the house - that the wind is blown into the house through any holes/open windows/doors, especially through the ventilation fan in my bedroom, caused by the Venturi effect on the chimney pot. I assume you would have a similar effect if it was windy outside your workshop.
@@torbjornahman - the valve plate on the chimney is ingenious (🙄 - you wouldn’t be able to put a fan in it with the rod for the plate) and the fan sound that I could hear was the draft fan for the fire 😉
Hello! I have a coal forge from my grandfather in my garage, but no chimneys installed and the roof of the garage it's actually the home. I'm a little scared about the monoxide carbone. How does your chimney suck such air and may you know about mountable ventilation systems?? Thank you!
I'd bet my nose there was a "sucker fan" on the exhaust/draft hood! I haven't worked much with fire and fumes in my life but... from the (probably poorly designed) brick BBQ fume hoods I've used (that never work and just make the whole place a smokey mess) I'd never think such a powerful draft could be generated by the heat alone...
How do you do to not get a very fat fire with way more flame, that make a lot of heat around the forge ? Is that the coke type or just a lower ventilation power ? Cause I allways forged with forges that make a big fire with big flames that make the work unpleasant because of the heat of flames. Thank you !
nice filming, great to see other forges. what did you think of my episode on 'Why Side blast Forges Are The Best'? I know its all personnal prefference, but have you tried a side blast before?
Thanks. I like your forge videos very much. I have never tried side blast but you may have convinced me to try one out. As I mentioned before, they seem easier to maintain with coke. Only problem really is freezing temperatures... would you add antifreeze to the water?
My bosch has frozen a few times in winter but fireing the forge up thored it out no problem. I guess if it is completely frozen you could use antifreeze however it is a corrosive solt soltion and so you would need to have the tue and the bosch be made from stainless steel so it doesn't corrode away. I'm making some 'Super Tue irons' that are made from stainless steel soon. I'll keep you posted on them, I have a video publishing soon making a forge out of a BBQ using one.
Great video! I'm designing my own forge now and this is giving me tons of ideas. What is your chimney made from? It looks like 12" (~300mm) galvanized ducting. I'm afraid of using galvanized ducting, but everything else is so expensive!
Thanks. Yes it's 12" galvanized duct pipe. There is no problem at all with my setup. The pipe does not get that hot... I can lay my hand on the pipe, say 2 feet up, during full blast and it wont hurt my hand. You need to heat galvanized above 900C for the zinc to vaporize.
Hi Torbjörn, how high is your chimney? I'm setting up my shop and I've decided to make side hood, same as yours. Here in Slovenia I can get 280 ad 315 mm pipes (closest to 12'') and standard lenght of 3 m per piece. Greetings.
Maks Šuc where I live in the US our chimneys are required to be at least one meter (one yard, technically, but who likes imperial measurements) above the peak of the house to ensure the smoke gets carried away by the wind before it has a chance to get sucked into the eaves
muledeerdude thanks. I'm still deciding whether to use galvanized pipe or stainless steel...but as one said before, anything apart from galvanized pipes is so expensive....also my shop is an annex to a larger building and I hope that a chimney higher than the large bulding won't be neccesary..
So all of those rocks on the table are consumable? I've never seen coke before. I thought the rocks were just pumice stones or something for keeping heat for the work piece. Does the coke have a good lifespan before it's no longer useful? Does the coke just turn to ash as it burns? Thank you for sharing!
Hello . Here in Brazil we use charcoal because it is very difficult to find coal. So I'm with following doubts : Is it to a forge charcoal "Super Sucker -side draft hood" function normally pulling the smoke of this type of coal? Thank Luiz.
Hi there I know this video is quite old now but if you still use the cast iron pot do you find that the pot glows underneath the forge? or does the ash insulate from that? I ask because I’ve moved from a side draught to a bottom blast and seem to get very hot (orange) underneath. Thank you
It can get dull red hot, but the ashes does insulate, and I always advocate to never clean it out completely. Just dig out what you need in the middle and leave the rest.
Hi Torbjörn, that's a great setup you've got there! I'm in the process of moving my forge inside but i'm struggling to find a suitable flue. What size of flue so you use and is it stainless?
I have 2 questions: - Fan supplying air to the grate has a variable speed (power) or not? - Hood also has a fan (motor)? or is it just a long tube? Thank you. Mark Fisher. Ukraine.
No variable speed. I control the air flow with the gate/valve under the forge table. No extractor fan, just natural draft through the hood. The flue is about 4m high.
Thanks for the reply, Torbjörn. I wonder blacksmithing, so happy to watch your channel. I want myself to try to forge the metal, but have not yet collected the necessary tools. Mark.
Hi there, great to see your setup..I especially like your chimney hat...very clever. I'm in the process of designing a super sucker - would you mind telling me the dimensions of the main box? The opening looks pretty big but it clearly works. And the ducting on top - ate you running 300mm pipe? Thanks... Really enjoy your videos. I'm actually going to a craft fair withbsone blacksmiths soon here in Ireland and I'll be using a box of dirt forge inspired by your video.. it works a treat
Dear Torbjörn, I'm thinking about building a side-draft hood for my forge. I have just one concern - does the outtake pipe has to be straight and turn into a straight chimney, or can I go through a wall with a 90 degree bend and then mount a chimney outside?
@@torbjornahman I think I've found it - iforgeiron.com/content/blueprints/1000/1049/005.JPG, thank you so much again :) That will make converting my old garage into a functional shop a lot easier.
I have some questions: How often do you have your air gate/valve all the way open? What is it normally set at? Do you close it when there is no metal heating up in the coals? Basically, I just want to know the specifics on how you use your air gate. Very enjoyable video, as always.
Fully open hardly ever, but that depends on how powerful your blower is. I guess half open when heating. Never close it completely when idle, at least not with coke which needs a bit of air to stay lit.
I'm curious as I would like to mount the blower for my forge outside as well, how cold does it get where you are, I'm in eastern Canada and it can get as cold as -31C here I am wondering if you experience any issues in the winter at lower temperatures??
What is the material you use after the charcoal? it is mineral coal? And if it is, what can be used in case of lack of mineral coal? Thanks for the videos.
I have very little experience with gas forges. A gas forge is limited in space, but is easy to store and use in residential areas since it's small and don't require a chimney. With experience I think you will learn to appreciate the aspects of the different forges. In some areas coal is cheap. Look out and avoid the cheap gas forges with bare ceramic fiber blanket on the inside. It should be coated.
Hello from norway Torbjörn, i was wondering if you had any design/drawing or measurments for your self made fire pot ? im getting in to blacksmithing and my current fire pit/forge is way to big =P
I understand the charcoal part (my forge is charcoal) but what is the other substance? Whenever I have seen it in videos (including this one) I have assumed it is coal, but it looks more like blue metal? If it is not coal, could someone explain what it is and what it's role is? Thanks.
Coke! Industrial coke made from coal in huge ovens, where most of the impurities like sulfur and other volatiles are burned off. What is left is more or less pure carbon. The process is similar to how wood is transformed to charcoal.
Hello master torbjörn, buy a coal according to the coke, but after a short time of work, it acquires a strange consistency and the clinker adheres to it. What could be the cause of this problem?
@@torbjornahman No, my question is, why does the carbon scum adhere to it? Maybe you can give me a tip that coal buy and what specifications should have
@@j.paulinoramosmeza230 I don't know why. Hard to understand what is going on without pictures. And I don't know about any specifications on coal. You probably have to test different kinds of coal, if one doesn't work test another type?!
Fascinating to watch how other smiths start their forges and have them set up. I've hear that some smiths prefer fire pots that are deeper than the one you have; does yours have any limitations that you can think of off the top of your head?
Not really. If you need a deeper fire you just stack fuel on top. Sure it could sometimes be nice to be able to get a longer heat, with a fire pot with multiple air holes in a row...
