My Father has been very successful in smelting metals using a simple wood fired forge made from 2 discarded truck brake drums and some other scrap metal bits and pieces.
The Basic construction for this type of forge is as per the rough diagram below.
The Door in the top Drum was cur using an Angle grinder, then the hinge and drums where welded together using low carbon welding rods. (Normal Mild Steel welding rods do not work well on this kind of metal).
The Door could be cut with oxy/acetalene but this is very messy and difficult so I would not recommend it. The Air source we used was an old hairdryer, and we have used a vacuum cleaner as well, both easy to get and cheap.
A small steel crucible was used to melt aluminum and lead with ease, and this furnace could easily smelt iron or steel, but a proper silicon carbide type crucible would be required.
As Truck brake drums are designed to withstand heat, they tend to last quite a few years before burning out (we haven't burnt one out yet).
I'd be curious to see what other people have used to make their own furnaces!.
Food for thought.
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