Saw a weird forge setup at a county fair in Springfield

I was at the Illinois State Fair last week and stopped by the blacksmithing demo tent. One smith had his coal forge built into an old washing machine drum, with the blower run off a car battery. It worked, but the heat seemed really uneven. I'm torn between thinking it's a clever reuse of junk and worrying it's a safety hazard waiting to happen. Has anyone here run a setup like that long term?

3 comments

3 Comments

keith_gibson17d agoMost Upvoted

Sounds pretty sketchy honestly. That uneven heat would drive me nuts. Seen a few janky forges that just aren't worth the risk.

corap2117d ago

Has anyone asked the smith why they built it that way? Sometimes those jury-rigged setups come from a real lack of access or funds, not just being cheap. I wonder if they're making it work with what they can get, which changes how you see the safety part.

shane_park9217d ago

Wait, they're running a forge off a hair dryer? That's a new level of scary right there. You can't control the heat at all with something like that. It's just asking for trouble, no matter how tight money is.