Coal

[Vulcan]

I was wondering, is there a certain coal I should be using in my forge? I bought some 50lbs of coal off this guy, and it seems to be burning REALLY REALLY fast, however I also have a pretty strong electric blower, and another thought was that I had my blower too high and that I was turning my forge into a blast furnace. Please Help!

[ChrisB]

"Soft coal" is the coal that is desired for smithing. It'll go really fast if your pushing too much air to it.

[CurlyGeorge]

I use Pocahontus coal from West Virginia and have very good luck with it. I live in ILLINOIS and purchased a 100 pound bag of ILL coal for 5 bucks, last year. It burned up in less than 1/2 the time of a 50 pound bag of the WV coal. I also use a hand crank blower on my forge, too, so I can control the air flow better.

[Don A]

You should be pushing just enough air to keep a good glowing core in a nice, deep fire.

If you can get a piece of 1/4" stock up to forging heat in a minute or two, then this would be fine for a minimum.

Your air blast needs blast to be adjustable, either manually or electronically (gate valve or switch). You will need a stronger blast to set up a weld in 1/2" stock than you will to forge hooks from 1/8" stock.
I use (for now) a hand-crank, and when forging really small stuff, just an occasional crank keeps enough heat for the little pieces. On the other hand, forging a hardy tool from a 1.5" shaft is gonna require more coal and more cranking.

Again, the coke in the pot should just glow, not become a flame-thrower. Keep your fire deep and don't rush it. Start with small stock and feel your way through to bigger stuff.

Glad to see folks concerned about good fire management. Too many just want to "heat it and beat it" without getting the basics down.

Stay at it,

Don

[Dave M]

There is a list of blacksmith coal suppliers in the blacksmithing section it is at the top of the page as a sticky.

[rmcpb]

Don't blow your job out of the forge is great advice given to me by an old blacksmith. If you have a strong blower then you need a valve of some sort on it to prevent it just burning your coal an jobs up before you can do anything with them.

[Dutchmancreek]

If you have an electric blower make sure the air flow is adjustable and that you hit the off switch whenever you take your workpiece from the fire.

Steve

[ThomasPowers]

A nice accessory is a foot switch that is on only when you are standing on it. Saves a lot of coal and steel as you are less likely to forget about it and burn up your piece when you have to stand there to heat it.

[Dutchmancreek]

Originally Posted by ThomasPowers

A nice accessory is a foot switch that is on only when you are standing on it. Saves a lot of coal and steel as you are less likely to forget about it and burn up your piece when you have to stand there to heat it.

He's right.....a good switch can be made from the foot controller of a discarded electric sewing machine. Just take out the rheostat, or whatever in in there and wire it into the blower circuit. I use one from a machine my wife was throwing away, but you could probably get one from a sewing machine repair shop.

Steve