This originally appeared in the UMBA Journal, Vol 16, Issue 4, July-August 1994.  The graphics are available for download as a single file (idiot_proof_forge.pdf - approx. 83 kb).

THE IDIOT PROOF COAL/COKE FORGE and

Why I Am Just The Idiot To Judge Just How Idiot Proof!

    When I was fifteen I needed an antique woodworking tool which I was unable to find.  My father who was a tool fanatic and tinkerer of the first order, told me offhandedly that I should build a forge and make the tool myself.  It was sort of a family tradition to plan for expansion, read:  Build Big.  In this spirit my dad procured a semi tractor brake drum about 22" in diameter and 12" in width weighing in at a not so petite 95 lb. or so, to serve as a firepot.  Enter FORGE FROM HELL.  As his knowledge of the finer points of forge construction was a little shaky, and he was my sole resource on the topic, my execution was secondhand and downright hackney.  To give you a rough idea of just how well the first version worked--the tool I was aiming to produce, never saw the light of day.

    The forge sat forgotten and forlorn for some five or six years until once again I needed a tool I couldn't find.  Enter FORGE-FROM-HELL II MAY THE FORGE BE WITH YOU.  I enlarged the airway from 1 1/4" water pipe to 2", and upgraded the 50 cfm exhaust hood fan to a '68 AMC Weathereye blower with a variable power source puffing through an elaborate fabricated tuyere.  Though it worked a good deal better, after the third fire my nifty tuyere sat atop the ash gate looking for all the world like a giant art-deco earring.