[Stoves] Sketch of Traditional Forge, used today from india to afghanistan

[drew]

I read about these forges in an artical written by a north american 
blacksmith (In "The Anvils Ring" an ABANA publication (artist blacksmith 
association of north america)) who was visiting india, and stopped to 
see an Indian smith at work.     Smiths in India are the lowest caste, 
but are also respected because of their ability to work "magic".     The 
forge may appear to resemble a cone shaped t-lud, but it operates in a 
continuous feed mode with great care being maintained to add only enough 
fuel to the top as is needed (fuel added almost continuously).   The ash 
thickness is varied to give the size fire wanted.   These fires have 
very distinct layers with an excess of oxygen at the bottom and an 
excess of carbon at the middle and top.    The common fuel is charcoal, 
but I have heard that sometimes rubber, or plastic is added, and that if 
added carefully and in small proportions to the right layer in the fire, 
the fire remains smokeless (most smiths pride themselves on maintaining 
(or attempting to maintain a good smokeless fire).     These small 
furnace/ forges are sometimes used for casting as well.     I have used 
this type of forge a half dozen times or so, and find other than it 
being located on the ground (I have never used the buried drum to stand 
in) the work very well, almost as good as a fancy steel one.    Charcoal 
is a superior fuel to coal in many ways, but burns quickly, resulting in 
2 or 3 times the volume of fuel burnt.   In using these I expect to 
spend about 10% of my time tending the fire and have no problem welding 
steel, even pretty heavy section bar stock 3/4x 3/4.

Drew

If people would like I will sketch 3 or 4 of the different air pumping 
setups I know of, some are very low tech but very neat.   In many ways 
the steam box, used by the Chinese now seems like the easiest option, 
but I wonder about what the energy outcome is.   I know that steam/air 
blasts were commonly used in the larger north american blacksmith shops 
in the late 1800's but in those days coal was very cheap.    This seems 
like the sort of thing one could mathematically estimate? but I am not 
sure how to go about it?  Perhaps it would be easiest to just run one on 
steam, then run it on compressed air while doing a temp rise over time 
to a large pot of water?

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