HOW I CAME TO MAKE A COAL FORGE AND THE JOURNEY THERE IN.
I had always been reluctant to build a coal forge here in Brooklyn for many reasons, not the least of which I would rather not have FDNY visiting my house two or three or ten times a week due to the smoke from a traditional coal forge. Also its messy and unlike a propane forge, you can't just turn it off when your down and go into the house. These were the main reasons I shied away from building one.
Fast forward to Spring 2020, and I made my decision that this year my Crown's A&S Competiion and Blacksmith Guild Master work would be a candle stand which I have studied for a number of years on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Cloisters collection.
Very quickly it became apparent that this project was not going to fit into my propane forge, even the new 3 burner wasn't wide enough. So the time had come to bite the bullet and construct a workable coal forge. In process of researching the different designs from tiny BBQ grill forge to use period forges with hand made bellows, I came to the conclusion that what needed to make was somewhere in between. I also decided that if I was going to build a coal forge then I was going to use it for all of my SCA and period work, and save the propane forge for production work. That decision colored how went about the process. Originally I was going to use a Brake Rotor that I had found on the side of the road and kept for just this eventuality, as brake drums and brake rotors historically make fine fire pots for make shift coal forges.
Upon further review and doing the measuring and trying to construct the guts of this fir pot; a pipe that attaches to your air source (blower or bellows,) Another straight pipe that drops down to all for the ash to go somewhere and the construction of a swivel to break up the clinkers (refuse from the coal and heated metal) and flap on the bottom of the whole thing allow all of that be dumped out into a bucket. The cost for the materials for all of this had me rethinking my plan to use the rotor and all that it entailed. Also if this is going to be my main SCA and period forge, I want this to be a one hundred percent on the money working forge. So, researched remade firepots and found exactly what I was looking for on Ebay for a very reasonable price. 
This fire pot had everything I needed and was mostly ready to install.
Next I needed to figure out what was installing it into. At first I was going to build a structure out of steel, but that became expensive and time consuming. The maype a wooden table covered in cement backer board. I quickly nixed that. So I started looking around the shop at what I had and realized I had the perfect coal forge table right in front of me. A few years ago I purchased a welding table from Harbor Freight to do all my welding on. That was one fine for a number of years. Two years ago I rearranged my shop and the big work table became the big welding table, cover with 1/4" steel plate. I moved all of my welding and cutting tanks over to the other table, leaving the old welding table to become what we like to call our Mathom table. How does something become a Mathom table you ask? Well you start putting things on it that have no other place and eventually you have a place for things that have no place that have nothing to do with each other. However I digress....
I was prepared to sacrifice my Mathom table for the good of the coal forge.
The great thing about this table was it was already cut in places and I just need to make a few more cuts to fit the new fire pot perfectly.
I used some to the 1/4" plate steel to cover the gaps in the table and that made it fit quite snug.
Next came the all important Hood and Chimney part of this project. A coal forge hood is a special type of device and its not something you can just go and pick up at the local Hardware store or Lowes. It's sole purpose is to draw the smoke from the fire pot and up and out a chimney keeping the shop smoke free. Most of these are built as large rectangles, some are fancy and have chamfered corners and looks all professional. I could not find what needed so on my third trip to the junk yard I found two stainless steel service pans (like from the Chinese Buffet). and some pipe collars and decided I could make the hood out of those.
I took the first pan and riveted a flat piece of sheet metal across about two thirds of the way up. This is the all important smoke shelf. In all the videos on making hoods I watched they all said , "Do not forget the smoke shelf", this keeps the smoke from rolling back down into the bottom chamber. I then measure the pipe collar and cut a holes slightly smaller than the collar and then riveted both collars in place Then I tack welded the back to the front. I used High Heat JB Weld steel putty to fill the gaps
I used High Heat JB Weld steel putty to fill the gaps. I painted it with high heat black paint. Oddly enough without even thinking about it, the hood fit perfectly into the space between the two studs where it will live.
Next piece of the Coal forge puzzle was the air source. A bellows would be period and very cool, however not practical in my small space and not for working alone. That leaves a mechanical blower. There are a number of different kinds but all are either hand cranked or electric. Again, as I plan to work on this forge a lot, I was going to forgo the hand crank and go with an electric blower that I can control the flow on.
LIFE LESSON HERE.
Sometimes you get what you pay for, and sometimes you get what you pay for and what you didn't pay for twice.
I did some online research and initially it appeared as though blowers are blowers and the are all in the $80 - $110 range on amazon. I checked the price for a specially made coal forge blower from Centaur Forge, a company I have dealt withi in the past and their blower with a controller was $225. I didn't see the need to send that kind of money on what amounted to an over powered hair dryer (which many people have used to run their forge).
Here us where the "you get what you paid for" lesson comes in. I bought a blower on amazon for $79, not a small chunk of change, They charged me for two and sent me two. I called amazon and got a refund for the one I didn't order. Before I could send that one back I plugged in the first one and it literally ate itself. So I plugged in the other one which apparently worked. I sent back the dead one. The next day while I was connecting the hose from the blower to the fire pot, that one I kept ate itself. As you can imagine, I was not happy. Back on the phone with Amazon, refund in hand I order a more expensive one for $125, one day shipping. I open the box and I recognize the same white plain box of the previous two crappy blowers. I just paid $125 for the same crappy blower. Back on the phone with amazon and yet another refund. By this time, $225 from centaur forge for a guaranteed quality blower and controller made a whole lot of sense, so, that is what I got. I should have just gone with the tried and true first.
Last but not least was making the wall where the chimney would be fit non-flammable. To do this I cout out the space between the studs where the hood would sit and replaces it with cement backer board. I cut hole for the hood flange and fit it right through. I also covered the studs and the over head plate in backboard as well leaving nothing flammable to chance.
Once the hood was secured hooking up the chimney was easy. I fabricated a rood bracket to keep the tack from moving and that finished the build.
One important detail I forgot to mention, I am not running coal in this forge but natural lump charcoal. Unlike coal which smokes like crazy and needs to be kept consistently hot, Charcoal barely smokes at all and will stay lit until you douse it.
So the inaugural burn was fun. The hood draw is perfect, and there was no smoke at all in th shop.
I made a coal rake - number one tool needed for a coal forge, and began the handle for coal shovel, number two important tool for a coal forge.
The process was long and took months, as I was making this while finishing commissions and other work.
I am pleased with the end result. Except for the fire pot and the blower, everything was either fabricated by me or retro fitted by me. Also the whole rig I portable.
