Charles R. Stevens

I would suggest looking at charcoal retorts. Charcoal is much easier to store (it doesn’t rot and is lighter and in the end after building a retort it is no more work than running a fire and it is more efficient at converting the base stock to usable fuel.

Depends on the part, we’re it is in relation to the what and how much room you have to work. a wet cotton rag might work, ceramic wool insulation might work, a big mud pie. Depends on the small details

Just wait till your clients start telling stories on you to your wife... ”do you see that man shaped dent in the barn” do you see that bent gate”...

Yes, you can bank burning coal against green coal but if you do the same with charcoal all the charcoal will soon be alight. With charcoal you have to build fire risistant banks to hold the fuel piled over the bowl. Add to the fact that charcoal really likes a tuyere that is 3/4”-1” ID and is about 1/2 as dense as coal. That requires a much gentaller air blast. if one is thinking about using both fuels, and are not forging stock over 1-1/2” a trench like I use is the most efficient set up this can either be done buy building a bowl out of plate like mine or buy building a box and filling it with loose fill. This size works great with a 3/4” schedule 40 pipe, as this is 7/8” ID: this fits right in the middle of the historic record. if one builds a box with loose fill one can use a larger tuyer and a 1/2” plate with a smaller hole drilled in it: this allows you to have a real big coal fire for forging anvils wile having a smaller fire for day to day use. Mae to the forge hearth, I like a 30x60” table, and for loose fill that would be a 30” square box 8-12” deep (depending on tuyere size) and a 30” square table next to it. In my case it’s steel but if building it permanently it can be wood covers with loose brick. Filling the box so as to leave a 12” square of lose fill (traditionally ash and clinker) around the tuyere. This allows you to modify the fire bowl for special projects

Unfortunately in the world of equine hoof care the Ford truck created a situation where the good business like farriers became mechanics wile the only ones left were the “unreliable womanizing drunks” the profession is known for. It was simple economics in which the public moved on from the horse pretty quickly, WWII put the nail in that coffin with moving on from the work horse. I spend a lot of time reading research papers, trade journals and pre copyright manuals and journals. A lot of what is tooted as “new” technology in our profession is something rediscovered or completely goofy just to sell a product. So coming from this background of old knowledge from when horses were necessary for transportation, industry and war and some good research over the last decade. Now compare this to the testing requirements for the two main certification bodies here in the US. It’s a craps shoot whether the “master farrier” giving the test is up on what is best practice. If you bring me a horse with many conditions I am reaching for an EDS package, not a wedge pad, young bar, or another of older technology. Just look at the shoe board requirements, half those shoes are not even used anymore. understand that I have come from being an ASE Master certified technician and an EMT to being a farrier. The certification bodies don’t even have a continuing education requirement or a periodic recertification so the guy testing you may be behind the times. Not to mention the politics. when it comes to the State they tend to be lazy and will tap the existing bodies for certification. I had a front row seat for Certified Crime Analogists as my friend and his partner have written both 90% of the existing software used and 10 of the 12 test segments. It was a fight with the politicians to make sure best practice was maintained but the war on terror had produced a lot of experience for a fledgling industry.

To add to TP’s comments, they still used metallurgical charcoal for work with tool steels even after coal became the main.

Thank you TP. Good horse, I would try a bowl shape an inch deeper than the bottom of the tuyere opening and of a circumference equal to the depth. That is to say for a 5” deep tuyere, a 10” x5” half circle sloping to just an inch or two at the bottom. Charcoal benefits from a trench because it doesn’t bank like coal due to fuel spread.

Thank you for the edit, y’all are to good to us!

But I am so looking forward to a call from Glenn! It has been so long...

A classic side blast coal forge gives you loads of vesitility as you can add auxiliary tuyere, building long fires, or add some fire brick and make a temperature furnace etc. those same brick let’s you switch between coal and charcoal as well.

I am on the fence about farrier licensing. Sure $100 trims and $300 showings would be nice but what I have seen with the two major certification bodies is a lot of “old school” non best practice techniques, and show politics.

Well after the union breaking of the 80’s we have had wage stagnation (1.5% wage growth for the working middle class vs 3% inflation. Now not to say that in non right to work states that some unions got the idea that the workers worked for the union and not the other way around, but the the right to work states they have generally been a good thing. worked as a mechanic for years, flat rate is a fair deal for both the customer and the mechanic who has invested in tools, training and experience. My self I averaged about 10% better than rate, but I had a cumback rate close to zero (faulty parts) thus I did a lot of in-house warranty when the “flat-raters” with 30% plus comeback rates couldn’t keep up with their own work.

http://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/bead-bellows-reconstruction.html?m=1 one of several posts buy Markewitz he dose work for parks Canada among others.

The heater boxes actually work well if you maintain the duct work and keep the varmints from nesting in the frame channels.

I am downsizing to a Suzuki Samurai and a trailer, lol. no pictures, it didn’t happen Anvil!

For millennia a squarish lump of iron was an anvil, and they were on the small size. Say 3” with the face mushroomed out to 4”, so a 10# sledgehammer head or other solid steel drop will work well, add a 24-32oz ball pein and/or 2# crosspein (both will need to be dressed) or a jack with a bit of work with a grinder and you have a start. The JABOD forge is low buck, heats up to 2” stock and as you can only effectively hand forge 6” at a time more than sufficient. there are many a cheap...., er, frugal smith here with experience that can help you build a small smithy for cheap. Free if your a good scrounge, about $100 if your not. iron age smiths forged swords and axes in charcoal forges on block anvils, so don’t get to complicated here.

For winter forging wood isn’t to bad, tho something like a key hole fire for cooking works better. I have build a Whitlox type forge and forged 1-1\4” square 4060 in it (a splitting wedge). I find a charcoal retort and a JABOD forge to be much more effecent, especially using construction waste, as you get less fire fleas. A 4” wide trench type side blast is about as effecent as you get with charcoal.

Ok, I think we have a translation error. mineral coal (one of a handful of types) charcoal coke (literally what I think of when I read “mineral charcoal” as it is either pyrolized coal or petroleum)

A very good year ;-)

Depends on if we are talking about a side blast or bottom blast forge and the fuel type you are using.

The step ladder cum anvil stand might be a bit light..

In the case of charcoal experimentation shows us that 6” is the practical maximum. For coal, you can go larger but 8” is about it as you can only forge about 6” in one heat. So ask yourself how big of a bowl do you need to support a 6-8” fireball? Obviously a 4” block of steel needs a bit bigger fire

If you are blowing the charcoal out with bellows reduce the weight on top or pump slower. Restricting the outlet may help as well. I do have fire fleas from welding fires but no fuel blowing out. You do have to chase the embers some when I move stock in and out but that is what the rake and shovel are for

Side blast forges don’t have the slag forming on top of the tuyere (grate) and if the fuel is blowing out of the forge, I would suggest you turn down the air blast. charcoal needs much less air than coal, but it takes a shallower fire with side blast than a bottom blast forge burning charcoal. further a single piece of 3/4” pipe 8” long costs a lot less than a 2” T, 3 nippes, a cap and a flange to build a 2” tuyere from pipe fittings.

Burning both charcoal and coal the shape I use is more fuel efferent and heats 1” stock. for coal only your u can go larger and deeper. there is a chart imbedded in the article describing depth to tuyere size. but anything larger than 1” is inefficient for charcoal, it really needs multiple tuyere for larger fires. As one can only forge about 6” at a time this isn’t a problem for 1” or smaller stock (I have forged 1-1/4” 6040 square) and as I melt hard firebrick with charcoal I don’t think most hobiests will find this to be an issue. a loose fill hearth lends its self to easy modification to accommodate different fire configurations. A note, 3/4” schedule 40 pipe has an ID of 7/8” wile 1” schedual 80 pipe is 1” ID. So you have a choice between 1-1/2” or 2” max. With charcoal.