Cheap and Easy Forge
After browsing Instructables, I found many solid-fuel forges, but none of them quite appealed to me. So I took matters into my own hands and scavenged materials to make my own.
I improved (or at least like to think I improved) other brake drum forges by integrating it's own stand and to use a second drum to A) keep heat further from weaker/melty components and B) to utilize a diffuser. Most Instructables I see use the one main hole. This concentrates the air flow to the center of the drum. Perhaps using the center along with the eight outer holes, I can create a larger hot spot.
Notice: I'm not liable if you hurt yourself, but being on a DIY website, I'm pretty sure you're aware of that already.
I improved (or at least like to think I improved) other brake drum forges by integrating it's own stand and to use a second drum to A) keep heat further from weaker/melty components and B) to utilize a diffuser. Most Instructables I see use the one main hole. This concentrates the air flow to the center of the drum. Perhaps using the center along with the eight outer holes, I can create a larger hot spot.
Notice: I'm not liable if you hurt yourself, but being on a DIY website, I'm pretty sure you're aware of that already.
Gathering Your Materials
The reasoning behind the design was simple: Make it rugged. The ruggedness would then lead to manliness. But first the materials.
1 25-gallon (ish...I'm not 100%) barrel. The particular one I found was intact. I removed the brass spigot on the end and plugged the hole. There was also a convenient hole approximately 3" in diameter located along the midline of the barrel.
2 Brake drums (pictured). I found two of different sizes; one with a 17" outside diameter and a second with a 15" outside diameter.
A 3' section of 3" stainless steel pipe.
A piece of exhaust manifold with a right angle bend that will go from the center of a flat end to the hole in the middle of the drum.
4 1/2x2" bolts with accompanying washers and nuts.
A 9" round piece of steel mesh (I had some screen door mesh handy)
A 9x9" piece of larger aluminum mesh (optional, but used to keep junk from falling through)
An old range element
Furnace cement (I bought a quart, I barely used a quarter of it)
Tools:
Tin snips
A drill with 1/8" and 1/2" bits
Metal file
Hacksaw (optional if piping needs trimmed)
A hammer. (Optional, but I found the head of an 8# hand sledge and picked up a handle while at the hardware store)
1 25-gallon (ish...I'm not 100%) barrel. The particular one I found was intact. I removed the brass spigot on the end and plugged the hole. There was also a convenient hole approximately 3" in diameter located along the midline of the barrel.
2 Brake drums (pictured). I found two of different sizes; one with a 17" outside diameter and a second with a 15" outside diameter.
A 3' section of 3" stainless steel pipe.
A piece of exhaust manifold with a right angle bend that will go from the center of a flat end to the hole in the middle of the drum.
4 1/2x2" bolts with accompanying washers and nuts.
A 9" round piece of steel mesh (I had some screen door mesh handy)
A 9x9" piece of larger aluminum mesh (optional, but used to keep junk from falling through)
An old range element
Furnace cement (I bought a quart, I barely used a quarter of it)
Tools:
Tin snips
A drill with 1/8" and 1/2" bits
Metal file
Hacksaw (optional if piping needs trimmed)
A hammer. (Optional, but I found the head of an 8# hand sledge and picked up a handle while at the hardware store)
Playing With Tools
So I have access with pneumatic tools, so I made an excuse to play with them.
Step 1: Mark your holes
I took the larger of the two brake drums and centered it on the top of the oil drum. I used a marking pen and marked the spot of four of the eight holes around the central main hole. I did not need all eight bolted down, but feel free to do that if you want. Then use the exhaust pipe to draw a circle in the center of the drum.
Step 2: Playing with air
Take your 1/8" drill bit and drill holes nearly touching along the outside of your marked pipe hole. And then drill a pilot hole in the center of each of your four outer holes. Swap out bits for the 1/2" and bore out your four outer holes to the full 1/2"
Step 3: Snip the center
Take the tin snips and trim between the smaller holes in the center. File the edge of your newly made larger, center hole.
Step 4: Fitting the parts
Make sure the pieces fit. I'd be pretty embarrassing to get to the cementing phase and have holes not line up.
Step 5: Black goopy time
My furnace cement was black. I was a bit surprised when I opened the top because most I have seen on Instructables was white. Not an issue though. Place a healthy layer around the outer holes so that the base of the larger brake drum will be sealed. If the cement oozed into the 1/2" holes that we made, clear them out. I used a straw, but a finger would work fine. Using the bolts, washers, nuts, and dexterous fingers, bolt the brake drum to the oil drum. If you're a bit clumsy, you might need a magnetic want do retrieve the washer and nuts and try again. Fit the manifold in (I went through the preexisting hole in the midline) and then cement around that.
Step 6: Aluminum mesh
As an extra (and probably not needed) addition, I put aluminum mesh over the hole of the lower/larger drum. Possibly this was to use the mesh that I already procured. Either way, it works.
Step 7: More goop
Place another healthy (maybe even a 1/3" line) of the cement on the inner ring of the larger drum. If your smaller drum fits differently, then seal where that drum touches. Then take your steel mesh and place over the hole of the smaller drum. Seal this well without clogging either the center or the eight surrounding holes.
Step 8: Waiting game
Stop touching it. Go away and come back in 8 hours.
Step 9: Place the range element on the metal mesh. The screen will not support much weight, it is there as a simple catch all. The range element will support most of the weight.
Step 1: Mark your holes
I took the larger of the two brake drums and centered it on the top of the oil drum. I used a marking pen and marked the spot of four of the eight holes around the central main hole. I did not need all eight bolted down, but feel free to do that if you want. Then use the exhaust pipe to draw a circle in the center of the drum.
Step 2: Playing with air
Take your 1/8" drill bit and drill holes nearly touching along the outside of your marked pipe hole. And then drill a pilot hole in the center of each of your four outer holes. Swap out bits for the 1/2" and bore out your four outer holes to the full 1/2"
Step 3: Snip the center
Take the tin snips and trim between the smaller holes in the center. File the edge of your newly made larger, center hole.
Step 4: Fitting the parts
Make sure the pieces fit. I'd be pretty embarrassing to get to the cementing phase and have holes not line up.
Step 5: Black goopy time
My furnace cement was black. I was a bit surprised when I opened the top because most I have seen on Instructables was white. Not an issue though. Place a healthy layer around the outer holes so that the base of the larger brake drum will be sealed. If the cement oozed into the 1/2" holes that we made, clear them out. I used a straw, but a finger would work fine. Using the bolts, washers, nuts, and dexterous fingers, bolt the brake drum to the oil drum. If you're a bit clumsy, you might need a magnetic want do retrieve the washer and nuts and try again. Fit the manifold in (I went through the preexisting hole in the midline) and then cement around that.
Step 6: Aluminum mesh
As an extra (and probably not needed) addition, I put aluminum mesh over the hole of the lower/larger drum. Possibly this was to use the mesh that I already procured. Either way, it works.
Step 7: More goop
Place another healthy (maybe even a 1/3" line) of the cement on the inner ring of the larger drum. If your smaller drum fits differently, then seal where that drum touches. Then take your steel mesh and place over the hole of the smaller drum. Seal this well without clogging either the center or the eight surrounding holes.
Step 8: Waiting game
Stop touching it. Go away and come back in 8 hours.
Step 9: Place the range element on the metal mesh. The screen will not support much weight, it is there as a simple catch all. The range element will support most of the weight.