Well I intended for the break drum forge I created Here to act as my main forge, but due to its small size I could not make it work for the items I intended to make. So I decided to work at finding a larger size forge that could be used for what I want to make. Due to financial restrictions I dont have the luxury of going out and purchasing a commercial forge pot and ash dump assembly, so I had to make my own. It will probably not last as long as a purchased forge but it will have to do for the short run.

My dad, years ago, took a gas hot water heater and cut it length wise to make feed troughs for the horses and cattle we had. He has since sold everything and I wound up with one of the feed troughs. I decided to try and use it for my forge because it was the only steel I had that was thick enough (however, it still may be too thin).

I took a grinder and commenced to cuttin’ away at the steel and here is what I ended up with.

You can click on the images to see the picture larger. Sorry about the picture quality they are taken with my camera phone.


I took one of the ends of the water tank that was concave to the tank and cut it off and rotated it so that the bevel would be convex on the forge. This gave it a more oval appearance. I also shortened the tank so that the forge would fit my 2′x2′ angle iron stand. I thought I should use the rest of the metal so I thought a hood would be good to direct the air out the back. I don’t know if that will work but its worth a shot. I think when I weld the steel together I will tip the hood up a little more than what is in these pictures.

All I have left is to Weld all the seams. I was thinking about seeing if i could weld some extra plates on the bottom of the forge, it would require a lot of grinding as the inside of the forge is lined with some kind of porcelain coating. I have a few grader blades that are roughly 1/2 in thick that might keep the bottom of the forge from melting while in use.