ahdlm

well, that's good to know. I had improvised a firepot for my experiment by using an old 10" cast iron skillet. can't be more than 3/16" thick on the bottom. I drilled holes and had a blower situated underneath it, but not attached. I checked every once in a while but could see no color in the actual skillet bottom, so it wasn't heating up much itself. I bought some blackpipe fittings to attach to it in order to act as tuyere and cleanout. Im wondering if I couldn't just make a forge with a firebrick bottom rather than metal? I read that side blast would work this way fairly well.

Ah. that sounds like what I have. I bought the coke ready made in a 50 lb sack. I had read that the coke was easier to light, but my first several attempts left me with the impression that the whole "burning coal" thing was a hoax. I couldn't get anything to light. finally, I made a proper fire out of some charcoal and slowly added the coke after that was established. that worked pretty good. I managed to heat a 2" x 1/4" bar to a yellow-orange heat that was more than enough to bend it into the handle "eye" of the Froe i was trying to make. Had my fire been a proper size and had I waited for the anvil to be returned to its usual place, I could have actually done most of the edge tapering as well. I gave a half hearted attempt at welding the joint, but I knew it wouldn't work. now all I have to do is build up a proper forge rather than the improvised one i had hobbled together over the cooking grill.

alright. been a member here for quite some time, but this is my first post. i've been reading up on forges and smithing for a while in preparation of giving it a try to make some rather simple tools that just cost too much to buy new. In my "research" i've read that at the heart of a coal forge is a coke fire, that is surrounded by coal that is turning into coke. This is the process that im interested in learning about. how long does it take to transform coal into coke? I have seen both coal and coke from a farrier supply near here, so I think I know the difference in appearance. Is the process simply managed on appearance or are there other factors that determine when the coal is indeed transformed into coke? In the interests of simplicity, could I not just buy coke and use it directly? it costs 50% more than the coal, but then I'm not going to be doing alot of forging compared to most folks in here.