Nonameguy

Thanks for the complement yah i normal pack it fuel was lettn it run out of fuel that baby roars though that's with lest than %25 capacity of my blower lol

i contacted someone waiting for reply about his suppler. hes a local blacksmith but in the mean time was wondering if anyone knows any suppliers where i can get it cheaper than like $580 a ton witch is cheapest i have found
I am in Sacramento would like to find something with in 100 mi

If you're happy with the wood pellets that's fine, but if you're interested in coal I still think you should talk to the Cal Blacksmith guys. I know organizations around here that buy coal by the ton and sell it at a fraction of $34 per bag. I would not be at all surprised to learn that someone out there is doing the same thing, but it's not necessarily something you'll find advertised anywhere. It's about asking the right people.

I bought 100 lbs of wood pellets yesterday and tried to start them by themselves was a disaster lots of smoke and just bad. But i started forging with charcoal and shoveled some pellets on there every once and a while and wow what a difference . used about 1/4th the charcoal got more heat used less blower and less sparks. used about 70/30 of wood pellets to charcoal .try it out just make sure u have a big charcoal fire first unless u want smoke because there has to be flame or the smoke wont burn. if there no flame u will probably get the fire department called on u and make ur front yard smell like smoke like i did . but if u use em with charcoal there amazing ...and cheap. FYI no coal to be found in cali where i live :(

Sparks are one of the hazards of charcoal. You can learn to minimize them, but the occasional flea bite is inevitable. If it's not the sparks it's hot scale, or molten flux from forge welding. (These are especially problems if you let your tong hand get lower than the face of the anvil while you work.) Coal generally doesn't spark at all, but it does produce some pretty noxious smoke -- and it looks like you might have neighbors nearby.

As far as finding coal at more reasonable prices, have you talked to the folks at the California Blacksmith Association? http://www.calsmith.org/ They may have ideas, and I notice that they run classes in Sacramento.

like the thing is i have no ideas of what to make really like what can i make bending tools ? i mean its rebar did spark test is just wrought iron dont really care how long the tools last just need practice ,i just want ideas of things to make to get better

Hey guys i am new just got my forge finished and running great and I have a ton 1/2 inch of rebar wondering any ideas of tools i could make i made a fire poker/ tender for forge and a butter knife so far lol
just need some ideas.

thank you that what i was looking for your post will help me alot going to buy some right now!

update thanks for the advice removed my design flaw with a single swing of a hammer

also the whole reason it was closed because my last open forge sent sparks everywhere like on me stand and when i made a brick tower it worked great ! i updated my gallery in my link with more pics take a look
has pics of old one and current

Hey tested it for the first time u guys were right smoke dose blow out the front. what about plumping it with an updraft essentially a steel pipe angled pointing up the stack making a vacuum and increasing -pressure
and i decided to put it in the box to help with efficiency i live in Cali Sacramento and coal is $35 for 50 pounds and 10 pounds of hardwood charcoal is bout 6 bucks that works for one session .
my original forge was a cement bowl and it cracked i got one use out of it and it used a whole bag of charcoal so i focused on getting an anvil and other equip all i need is the forge to be finished now i have a 204lb anvil very nice. gave to by family friend.

this is my forge i have some pics from start to almost done its really neat. the bowl is set in a chimney section on its side .with holes drilled for forge chimney and air inlet/ ash dump, and then bricked in with firebrick with a variable speed blower. also with perlite as insulation sealed under bowl.http://s1138.photobucket.com/albums/n523/blakemuz/
sorry couldn't figure out how to insert images