forestgu3

Personally, I've found that keeping a supply of coke from the last fire is helpful. Often starting the new fire for the day the lay is as such; fire starter (paper, cardboard, wood shavings), new coal, coke, coke/coal mix. Initially if you have a coal fire you'll always have smoke but with practice you can minimize the volume and duration. If you decide to switch to coke from a manufacturer instead of coking while you forge, most will tell you not to quench the coke. If you do you'll learn a lesson quickly, like the novice starting a propane forge without igniting imediately. Forge away.

Any photos of the clutch assembly apart? Finally got mine belted and running but the clutch seems to slip 1 out of 5 pumps. Don't really want to take it apart and not be able to put it back together.

I don't know about NY but a fair number of farriers who build shoes use L Brand (www.blacksmithcoke.com) and I know for Ohio the whole shabang is about $500 per ton. Hope that helps.

In my quest to find more info on the forge I just bought I stumbled across your post. Awesome!! I have the exact same forge and blower but mine came missing only the flywheel belt. I don't know how much of it is original (handle, connecting rod, tue., etc.) and the paint options are mostly artistic license. Does anyone know color schemes and details? From my experience something of this nature would have pin striping and other decorative elements on the fly wheel and pump handle. P.S. After looking at the photos posted on the website I now know every spot that needs some touch up paint.