Walnut Square Iron

You are right about the air. I did get it really hot yesterday and went through a bit of coal. I am chopping up the stove coal in a bucket with a "mutt" chopper and it works well.

I'll grab nut coal next time, if I can't get up to Meader Supply like George mentioned above for the bit.

I am beginning to like it. Forge modifications were necessary after seeing the performance on the first few runs. It definitely gets very hot and I think I will be fine using it. The low smoke is also a plus working near neighbors.

Good points there Backwoods. I think I am just getting over the hump for maintaining the fire. When I am pretty comfortable with it, I will use the above info for better managing it. I will definitely keep at it.

Just a quick update. I made the clay ring around the tuyere about 6" in diameter and about a half inch higher than the opening. I used a firestarter, just a little charcoal and went right to anthracite. Wow, what a difference. The concentration of heat stayed in the middle and the temperature was really hot. All the heat was contained to the center. After a while I had to shut the blower down. It worked really nice. I just kept adding coal to make a mound and it works fine. I just need to build up more clay to the level of the ring as I used sand around the edge today. It was a much easier session. I will stick with anthracite for now.

Thanks so much George, valuable information there. That is within driving distance for me. On a sidenote: I built up a lip made of clay and sawdust in the bottom of the forge which will help keep the coal more central.

Thanks for the welcome Dick. It is a hobby for me too. There is just not enough time in a day or week to do the things I want to do. I will look into joining a group at some point. Life pulls me in many diferent directions at once though. Jon

That looks real nice. I would be extremely happy with it. I always find that if something does not pan out right away, a better opportunity isn't too far around the corner. I'd like to seee some pictures of it in action. Jon

Much appreciated. AIA is going to be on my birthday list in the coming weeks.

Great advice Frosty. I know of one local blacksmith I am sure I will eventually meet and see where he sources his from if he uses it. Funny story is that I called around and two farm supply stores had bituminous coal as I asked for it specifically and said "soft coal". Well, I went to both and they only had anthracite. I will stick it out and figure what I need to do differently. There is a supplier outside of Boston, about 45 minutes from me, but the anthracite is only 15 minutes from home. NH may have some smaller farm supply stores with bituminous. Hard stove coal is readily available up this way from many suppliers. Jon

I am a new member here and I don't have the book yet. I have a HB that I got from my dad several years ago. I have used it over the years working brass and copper sheets and roughing up hinges for woodworking projects. I finally brought it outside to the forge and worked some pieces on it a few times. It felt good to put it back into service. While I was doing some research on it, i ended up on IFI and found a lot of good info. I believe another member here has a HB with a serial number a few digits off from mine. 30" long x 12" tall Serial # 201236 There is some wording in the middle under Hay Budden that I can't quite make out. Maybe a bad strike. 1" hardie and two 1/2" pritchell holes I haven't weighed it, but it is at the outward range of my lifting capabilities. I don't plan on taking it off the block again, let me put it that way. Thank you for any info.

Ok, thank you Dale and Frosty. Some good tips here. I think my fire is too shallow and too cool. The grate is just about level with the clay/sand mix. Frosty, yes, the 1/4" round stock does cool quick, but for my particular project, I need this size. I keep two rods at a time in the fire and switch back and forth. I know it is not efficient moving from the forge to anvil, but it is manageable and less waiting for one rod at a time to heat up. I do have a few RR spikes that I worked a few weeks back, the working time out of the heat was longer. Dale, I did see that thread before, there may me something to it having the piece to close to the air blast and cooling the piece down. I think a dimmer switch is needed to better manage the air flow. I am going to crush the coal down a bit for more surface area and build up a clay/sand ring to keep coal around the grate. This may be 4-8" inches in diameter. My initial thinking was to buy bigger coal, and crush it down to a size that I felt would work best and buy that size next time. I will admit the way I am burning the coal, I can see right into the core of the heat to see if the metal has changed to orange. I'd say more coal is needed on top to insulate. This is so different than burning a woodstove. I may also need to break some wood burning habits and manage the mound different. Jon

First time poster here looking for help on fine-tuning my coal usage. This is all new to me, so I will take any advice or personal experiences that you may have. I am just starting out with a brake drum forge and heating only 1/4 square stock and rods. After calling around to several feed and grain suppliers, landscape suppliers and farm stores, I am not able to get bituminous coal right now. I bought a bag of anthracite "stove coal" to get going. I had to break up the large pieces that were about 2"-3" in size. I start my forge with a firestarter, a small handfull of charcoal and then pile anthracite once it is going. My tuyere is a 2" nipple that I cut down to 1", coming up from a black iron floor flange set in the drum. I welded 2 pieces of 1/4" rod across the nipple for a screen to keep the coal and clinkers from falling down the tuyere. I lined the bottom of the drum with sand/clay mix to almost the top of the nipple. I recently added a piece of expanded metal over the rods to help keep the smaller pieces from going down. I can light the coal no problem, but the core of the heat seems to move around the firepot in different directions. I understand anthracite is a little more difficult to work with, and does not form a cave. It seems to slide around easy and need constant piling up over the piece being worked. When the piece is removed to be hammered and put back in the forge, re-piling is necessary. Yesterday I took large pieces of coal and made an "igloo" over the smaller pieces to see if it would hold more heat in one area. It did not really seem to work. My next thought is that maybe I need a bowl made of clay or the bottom tray of a flower pot with a hole cut out to go over the tuyere, to concentrate the coal over the tuyere. I fished clinkers out from time to time to keep the air path open, but I really need consistency on the heat. I am using a blow dryer for now to force air. I am also thinking maybe getting smaller nut coal next time. l noticed that at the end of the forging session, the coal is dull gray with reddish pieces mixed in. Is anthracite supposed to reduce to ash? It seems like the pieces are not burning down all the way. Maybe not hot enough? I did get it hot enough to melt the end of a rod when I was not paying attention for a minute. Sorry for the long-winded post. I will take any advice on concentrating the heat to a smaller area. Right now it feels like a shell game trying to guess where the hot spot will be next. Thanks in advance. Jon

Thanks for the welcome Frosty. It turns out that my anvil came from an antique dealer that aquired from a closed farrier's shop across the river from my town. I was happy to learn of this, and that it remains close to where it was used. I also learned by searching for Hay Budden serial numbers here that another IFI member has a HB with a serial number a few digits higher than mine. Most likely made around the same production time. This site is an amazing resource. I will be putting up a coal question later today when I have some time. Jon

Hello everyone, I've been lurking for a few months and decided to jump in an say hello. I am up in the Merrimack Valley of Ma, two minutes from the New Hampshire border. My very short journey in blacksmithing was laid out before me without even knowing it. A few years ago, my dad gave me his anvil and farriers tools that he had that he was not using. I used anvil a few times over the years to work copper or brass sheets for various projects. I've taken an interest in wood re-purposing for about a year and figured I could add metal accents to woodworking pieces. I took an evening class at a forge, which was great, and I realized I had a lot of the tools needed to get forging. I built a brake drum forge and lined it with sand/clay. I welded up a base and now here I am. I would prefer to take blacksmithing courses and learn proper methods, but time and money are not things of which I have an excess of. I am going to learn as I go and hopefully take a few classes or open smithy times. My set up is far from ideal, but I will adapt and modify as I go. Many thanks to all who post and run this forum. I have learned a lot, and I hope to contribute some thoughts or ideas in some small way. Jon