Basic blacksmithing – building the bucket forge

(Click on the image for a larger view)

Ok, we talked about this very primitive forge in previous posts, and here is the “how to” article to build your own bucket forge. Just so this is very clear, this is not going to be a really incredible forge, and it probably won't be very pretty, but it is simple and dirt cheap (that's a joke son, a joke... it will become apparent in a bit).

This bucket forge has not been covered anywhere else on the internet that I am aware of, but a lot of parallel evolution happens, so it is quite possible. You could think of this as a portable ground forge if you like, so any photos or information you might happen across on a ground forge could apply to this project.

So lets jump right into this then.

First you are going to need a bucket. A metal bucket or pail is certainly fireproof, but because of the way we are building this, any 3 to 5 gallon plastic bucket will work just fine.

Next, you will need some way of getting air into the fire. Here, I really suggest you use a section of steel pipe. Plastic pipe, such as PVC, is definitely going to melt and it won't last longer than it takes to get a good fire going. Copper pipe is going to carry a lot of heat back out of the fire, and could melt the side of your bucket, plus it is pretty expensive. Now for this project, any old hunk of 1 1/2” or larger pipe should suffice, though I wouldn't suggest much beyond about 3 inches in diameter. If it has an elbow or T connector on one end, that's even better. You will need a way to put a hole in the side of your bucket for the pipe to enter, but we will get to that in a bit.

Lastly, you are going to need some fireproof material to fill your bucket and make your bowl. This is where the “dirt cheap” joke comes in. Simple dirt can work just fine, with a layer of clay to make the bowl. And if clay is hard to come by in your area, kitty litter shouldn't be, and it is just pelleted clay. If you opt to go the kitty litter route, make sure it is the non-scented stuff, those scents could emit nasty fumes once they heat up.

Now that we have our materials, we just have to put it all together. The first thing is going to be a hole in the side of the bucket to allow the air pipe to come in under the fire. If your air pipe is just a straight section, it can come in higher up than if it has a T or elbow on it. The proper way to do this is to use a hole saw to cut a properly sized hole in the side of the bucket for the pipe to have a nice close fit. But hole saws are fairly costly, and this thing is to be done on the cheap, so... you will need to heat the section of pipe at one end, and find a means of safely holding the pipe to melt a hole in the side of the bucket. For this a propane torch can work, or a small camp fire. You only need to get the end of the pipe up to about 400 degrees, so even putting it in your grille or oven would work. Now wrapping a wet towel around the pipe might seem like a safe way to hold it, but go with me on this... it's not. If the pipe is long enough, you should be able to hold in with your hands, as long as you check it with the back of your hand first. By that I mean hold the back of your hand near the potentially hot pipe and feel for heat. Then get a bit closer and so on until you can touch it and know for certain it is a comfortable temperature. Why use the back of your hand, you may ask? Because the back of the hand is more sensitive to heat than the palm and fingertips, plus if you do burn yourself, it is in a place that wont cripple your ability to keep working. If the pipe is too short, or the heat moving though it has heated it up, you will need something like a pair of pliers or vice grips to hold the pipe. DO NOT put one end of the pipe in a bucket of water. This can cause the water in the pipe to turn to steam and shoot out the end like a shotgun, and steam is very effective at causing burns.
Once you get your pipe heated up, you simply hold it against the bucket and let it melt the plastic. Be sure to do this outside on a windy day, those fumes can not be good for you. Also be sure there is nothing flammable nearby, like a wooden deck or a bucket of gasoline soaked rags. If the plastic flares up and starts to burn pull the pipe off it and let the pipe cool somewhat, and put the flame out either with water or a hand full of sand. Don't blow on it to put it out though, as that could easily splash molten, burning plastic back into your face.

The objective here is to get a hole that is just about the size of your pipe, about halfway down the bucket. Of course if you have a hole saw, you can use that too, but this is the low dough way.

Now that you have a hole, let the bucket and pipe cool back to air temperature. Next fill the bottom of the bucket with whatever is handy to make up the space up to the level your pipe comes in at. Dirt is just fine, but is rather heavy. Since this area will not be exposed to much heat, it can be filled with wood scraps, a couple empty cool whip containers with lids or what have you. Just fill any air gaps with dirt and make sure you have a few inches of dirt under your pipe for insulation. If you choose to fill the entire bucket with dirt, the forge will be much more stable in use, which is safer, just be careful moving it, as the handles on many of these buckets are not designed for that much weight. Now slide your pipe in through the hole you made so the open part is at the center. If your pipe has and elbow or T, you will have to put the pipe in from the opening at the top of the bucket, on an angle and slide it into position. Now fill the bucket with some more dirt around the outer edge to create a basic bowl shape. Tamp this all down from time to time to make sure the dirt is packed as tightly as you can, so it wont collapse later.

Next comes the final part, making the bowl. If you have river clay, simply press it into place forming a nice bowl shaped depression with the sides packed tightly all the way to the top. If you are using cat litter, you will need to mix a little water into it so it is sticky, and pack it into place. There are illustrations on my blog to better show the shape and layout of this step, and that can be found at http://ironangelforge.blogspot.com/, along with other lessons.

Now you must have some patience, and let the clay dry for several days. Once you have let it dry, check it for cracks, and if some have formed, mix up a little clay and water and patch the up nicely, and let it all dry again. If you have no cracks, congratulations! You just built a bucket forge! You may want to build a small fire of paper and sticks in it to bake the forge bowl, but don't get to gung ho, you are just trying to drive out more of the wetness in the clay, not build a fire that can be seen from space.

Lastly, you will need to find a few nice rocks to put in your pipe to keep the coal from falling down into the pipe. These are easy to come by along side gravel roads and some driveways. Try to steer clear of any rocks that have been in creeks or rivers, they could still contain water and explode or turn to powder under heat. We will cover how to use those rocks in our next installment, which will also cover putting air into your bucket forge.

That's all for now, stay out of trouble til next time.

Blacksmith basics - the forge

Blacksmith basics – the forge

This post will cover more specific details on the forge a blacksmith uses in their craft than our previous post “absolute basics” did. This resource will cover mostly coal forges, with gas forges covered in a later article. I will be leaving out the exotic and semi-exotic heating sources here, such as electric resistance heating systems and solar forges. These other systems are more specialized in their application and generally financially out of the reach for the average hobbyist smith. In later articles we will cover some simple variations of the modern and historical forges that can be built very inexpensively and in short order.

The forge is a place that the smith can contain and control a fire to heat metal up to working range, which is usually hotter than a normal camp fire. The term also often means the building the forge is located inside of, and the term “forging” is something made in a forge. Forgery is not the correct term for making something in a forge though... that would be smithing, which comes from smite; to strike something. You know... blacksmith, a smith who strikes iron, which comes from the ground and fire black, as opposed to gold or silver.

The history of metal smithing is a long and varied one, and forges have undergone many variations and changes over the passage of time. Originally, the forge was a simple hole dug into the ground, and a blowpipe was used to increase the heat of the fire. As time passed, the smiths decided that standing up was a lot more comfortable than crouching down to work in a ground forge, but a few clever smiths dug holes to stand in next to their ground forges, and in a few parts of the world these ground forges are still used today.

The next evolution was to make the forge a roughly waist high table, either of laid stone or brick. This allowed the air-blast to come into the forge from under the fire, instead of from the side or above, which increased efficiency and allowed the smith to get even greater temperatures from his fuel. There are variations during this long age, including forge tables built of wood and covered in clay, side blast forges and long trough forges. For simplicity sake, we will only cover the generic, basic forge here for now though and save the unusual ones for later.

In modern times, the forge is often built as a steel table with a heavy walled cast iron firebowl or firepot at the center of the table to contain the fire. This forge bowl is usually several inches deep and a bit more than a handspan across. This allows a decent amount of fuel to be used, yet is not wasteful. It also allows the solid sides to absorb and reflect some of the infrared heat back into the center of the fire, increasing efficiency.

In all ages, the area around the forge bowl is often used to hold extra fuel and lay out work pieces and tools. Careful fire management will keep the fire contained in the smaller, central pot so as to not waste fuel. Many smiths build special fittings into the table to aid their work. These can be tool racks, special dies for forming or bending, or workpiece supports for long rods of steel.

So why build a large, heavy table for a forge in this day and age? Forges are an efficient means of heating steel compared to other options, such as a simple torch with either a fuel air mix or a fuel-oxidizer mix. The fuel air torches are things like a propane plumbers torch which have only a single gas cylinder. A fuel-oxidizer system like a oxy-acetylene cutting torch, will have a pair of tanks. The problem with using either style of torch is the amount of lost heat that is simply blown into the room and not absorbed by the work piece. The amount of fuel used by either of these torches in medium to heavy blacksmith work will make them prohibitively expensive in short order.

That about covers the basics of the forge, now we need to look at the fuel, air input assembly and the hood or draft system to remove smoke and heat.

Historically, forges burned coal, charcoal or in some rare cases peat moss as fuel. Raw wood is generally not clean burning enough to be used as is, so it was usually rendered down into charcoal, which gave a better heat and was less troublesome. Today, coal is probably the most common, as the amount of charcoal one uses for even simple projects makes it somewhat cost prohibitive in comparison to a coal forge. Coal is somewhat uncommon these days, but not terribly hard to find, and we will cover resources for finding it later on in our article about fire building and management.

For a moment I would like to diverge here to discuss gas forges in passing, just so the reader will have a bit of familiarity with them until we reach that chapter.

Most modern gas forges are a box like object with a pipe or set of pipes on top, so they can easily be put in a number of places like the tail gate of a pickup truck for field work. A gas forge can be built into a table like a coal forge, or sit on a stand or mount at any convenient height for work in a shop. The forge box is lined with a fireproof refractory material, much more resistant to heat than common brick, and this makes these forges rather heavy for their size. The pipes that enter the top of the forge are gas jets, and have a system to mix fuel and air from the room together to produce a clean burning flame inside the forge box. Most gas forges are set up to run on propane, but any flammable gas that can be pressurized can be used (such as hydrogen, methane or natural gas). More on gas forges later though...

Once we have a forge and something to burn in it, we need to consider how to get that fire hotter than normal. This was originally done with a blowpipe. It works, but is pretty tedious and can make you quite light headed very quickly. So some clever smith came up with a way to build an automatic lung, which we today know of as a set of bellows. There were a number of improvements in bellows tech over the years, but in this modern age most smiths use a much smaller mechanical fan system. Heck, you can even use the output from a vacuum cleaner or a hair dryer, but both of these have interesting problems we wont cover here yet. Most of these systems have some way to control either how fast the fan turns or how much air it is allowed to push into the fire to better control the heat in the forge. Too hot can burn the steel and too cold will make many jobs much harder if not impossible.

This air system is connected to the underside of the forge with a section of fireproof pipe, and enters the bottom of the firepot through a specialized part of the bowl, usually called a tuyeer. (There are some variant spellings of this word.) Usually this section of the bowl also has a gate or some kind of door to allow the ash that falls out the bottom of the bowl to be cleared out.

Now that we have air in our forge, we have to do something with the smoke... that's where a stack and hood or some other system comes into play. Now if you are just outside, you can let the smoke drift away, but I have done this a lot, and I can tell you it will often drift right toward you (there really is a scientific reason too – you create turbulence in the air stream passing you, and the smoke can be pulled right to you even if you are up wind of the forge). Building a stack (or chimney) is a more complex process than it may at first look, but I will cover it in great detail later on, so do not fret. Connected to the stack is some kind of metal hood that collects and funnels the smoke, allowing it to leave the building through the stack. There are optimal ratios for the intake area vs the pipe size and stack height, and I will cover them in that article I just mentioned. For now, I just want you to be aware that most smiths use a steel hood over their forge, though some use what is called a sidedraft hood system. This is the system I prefer, and I will have a full article including pictures and plans up here soon as part of the aforementioned article.

That wraps up our lesson for today, and once we get past these most basic lessons we will begin to get into the real meat of it.

Until then, stay out of trouble.

The podcast for this will also be up at http://alonetone.com/ironangel under "albums and playlists - Blacksmith lessons".

Blacksmith basics - The Absolute Basics

Basic blacksmithing - The absolute basics


Foremost, the craft of blacksmithing is the manipulation of hot iron or steel, and this requires a few basic tools This post should help to familiarize those who have interest about these tools, and start a series of educational posts I have had in mind for some time. There are hundreds of other places on the internet to get this information and a cursory search will reveal that they all cover roughly the same ground with some variations. I will start with covering the same ground, then in later posts diverge into the unusual things I have learned over the years, and hopefully give some insight into where I found some of this so the reader has the option of delving deeper if they wish to do so. It is my intent to make all the needed information available here, in one location though, so there doesn't have to be endless searching for that one little nugget of needed knowledge.

The forge is simply a container for a fire, and can be any number of forms. Most people are familiar with large, permanent built in forges of brick or other fireproof materials. In later posts, I will cover building a forge (and many other tools) in ways that are less common, and in some cases much easier to transport (including a very portable rudimentary forge made out of a plastic bucket, a bit of pipe and some cat litter – yeah, it is not the greatest, but it will work). Many forges are also built of metal, usually steel, in the form of a table with a depression or bowl set into their center for the fire to lay in. I will cover basic design concepts on these later as well.

The second main tool is an anvil. While the London pattern anvil we all know and love from the roadrunner cartoons is the most common, the anvil can be any solid, fireproof object. In Scandinavia and other parts of the world, some anvils were once simply good stones with a flat surface. In modern times sections of railroad track or I beams often stand in as anvils, and again, I will cover some alternatives if an anvil is out of your current reach.

Next is the hammer, familiar to most people, yet subtle and elusive in some of its complexities and uses. Hammerwork, and some tricks will make up several posts down the road a bit. The hammer of the blacksmith is not the claw hammer of the carpenter, though in a dire pinch this could be used to make a more suitable hammer for forge work.

Then there are tongs, in a vast array of sizes and shapes. Tongs allow the smith to hold a hot piece of steel while the hammer does its duty, and hopefully they do so in a safe and effective manner. Tongs are one of those things you never seem to have enough of, and yet to the non smith, seem like you have more than you could ever use. We will cover making tongs in great detail as well as some stand ins that are easily found (such as vice grip pliers and channel locks). These stand ins are certainly not as effective as a proper set of tongs, so making tongs will be one of our early projects as this collection progresses.

Then there are a vast array of other more specialized tools, ranging from grinders and files to welders, benders and formers, power hammers and presses all the way to finishing tools like sand blasters and paint equipment. All will have their time to shine, but at a much later date than our basic tools.

And for this post, I leave our most critical tool for last, though as we progress, we will be discussing this tool in depth in nearly every lesson and session. That tool is the smith. From proper techniques with the hammer and tongs, to constant vigilance on safety, we will discuss how you, the smith, are part and parcel of the craft. Knowledge is also an incredible tool, along with creative thinking, but these are contained in the smith, so we will cover them all as a whole.

That about covers the first in what I hope will be a long series of posts to educate those who have an interest in this craft. In future episodes we will not only cover techniques and tools, but a lot of history. Now don't worry, this isn't going to be a lot of dull dates and the like, I want to cover the fun, weird history that hopefully will make the people following this collection laugh and think.

If you like, I will probably post audio versions of each of these posts at http://alonetone.com/ironangel for you to download and share with your friends. Check under “albums and play lists” for “blacksmith lessons” and see what you can find. Some of my music is also up there for your entertainment, along with some just plain weird stuff.

This is a direct link to the file:
Absolute basics

POD Casts update

Whups, I forgot to mention this in the previous post;

Some time ago I had mentioned a POD Cast (a bit of a joke on the normal podcast and using the Line6 POD guitar processor to make music. Ok, not a great joke).

That is still in the works, though I am not sure I can upload music tracks here. Ah, but wait! I do have all of my 2009 RPM Album up on Alonetone, and you can go there and listen or download said tracks for free along with some other pieces I have done in the last year or so.

Do be aware that by its nature, RPM sort of pushes the time deadline, so many of the tracks there will be replaced eventually with finished versions (several of these are actually just rough concepts and were needed to fill out the required number of tracks, no matter how "done" they were or were not).

Now you may ask yourself "What is RPM?" Well, the letters stand for Record Production Month, and it's part of the RPM Challenge put on by The Wire magazine; to write and record an album of original material in the month of February, get it burned to CD and in the mail before noon on March 1 of each year. I have done two RPM albums thus far, and once I find where I stored the tracks from 08 I will get those up as well.

This was a particularly interesting year for me RPM wise. I did my own normal album, along with a special side project and 12 spoken word albums (which some of you may have heard parts and bits of in person... its the after hours campfire stories put to tape). I also played on two other groups albums and did a quick vocal bit for a third. All in all, quite busy!

Now on to the links:

http://www.rpmchallenge.com for the RPM Challenge site
http://alonetone.com/ironangel for my music on Alonetone. Hey, while you are there, check out Sister Savage and some of the other great stuff!

Also, if you are thinking about recording your own tracks, I use and recommend Reaper. It is a computer based Digital Audio Workstation with the feel of an old analog console for us geezers, but all the functionality of a modern DAW (though MIDI can be a bit tricky).


http://www.reaper.fm/

It's a free trial for 30 days, and non crippled nagware after that. Brought to you by the guys who created winamp and many other fun programs!

Off for some studio time here I do think, have fun stormin' the castle.

Computer Repaired and all that

Well, yet again I seem to have managed to destroy another computer. Ah the abilities of someone better suited to the 19th century than the 21st. But that is now dealt with and I am back online. Again.

I suspect if I kept track of when this happens each time I could create a chart to predict when I will yet again destroy this computer. Ah well... better things to do with the day.

I originally set out to create this web log as a way to educate about blacksmithing and metal work, and I dare say I have not done many posts on that topic. So I have started to write offline to create an interlinked series of educational posts that will begin being posted in the near future.

Also in the works is an instructional set of DVD's to better cover the material in detail. I am not at this time certain when those will be complete, as we are still in the planning stage there. I will post here as they progress.

With all that said, have fun all. Stay out of trouble til I get back.