Panterafan

Going to stick weld some higher walls onto the brake drum for now. And I am looking into building a charcoal specific washtub forge, or a v forge much like a whitlox. Thanks a bunch guys I'll keep you updated!

How can I tweak my forge for charcoal?? Using less air? My forge is just a brake drum forge mounted in a oil drum, with 1-1/4 inch pipe, powered by a hairdryer I got from Goodwill. I took Frostys advice and took some photos, maybe they'll help who knows??

I've had next to no luck trying to find some local coal over here in Oregon, more specifically the Portland area. I've been buying my coal online for at least a dollar a pound! And it's really killing my wallet. Sure I can use lump charcoal for most things but it produces quite a bit of flaming debris, and getting a good forge weld is next to impossible. I've called every stove shop around and they've all stopped carrying, and yes I've called valley farrier (stopped stocking), mountain brook forge (haven't picked up phones in 2 weeks, sucks because they seemed like a real good option), central fuel in up in Chehalis (stopped stocking). I've heard of somebody down in Monroe that sells coal, but haven't got a phone number, nor do I know if he still does it. Ive made really sure to dig through all the forums and old threads before I started this one, I used the iforge iron function and the google :iforgeiron function. So can somebody help me either..... A- learn to somehow forge weld with charcoal? B- Find coal locally for a good price C- Give up and move to a gas forge? ps- I'm 18 years old and I'm trying to get into blacksmithing, none of my friends are interested which doesn't really bug me, I like blacksmithing because it's of the old world anyways. So I'd really to find some friends to forge with -Jonas

Hi, just bought my first real anvil yesterday after using a round crosssection of steel support for about a year. Found an ad on Craigslist and drove to the boonies to look at a peter wright. The guy knew nothing about the anvil. I bought the anvil from him for 380 which I'm sure is a steep price but the anvil market over here in Portland Oregon is tiny, plus it's a peter wright. The only thing is, I've never heard of a 82 pound peter wright. I took some pictures and was wondering if you guys could tell me a little about the anvil based on the stamps and whatnot. I'm new to this forum (obviously), and I know you guys hate new people making new threads. But I have found next to no information on this anvil, especially the "3" stamp on the foot of the anvil. Also did I overpay? (I'm sure I did). And is there anything I need to do to this anvil to make it more functional? Or should I just leave it be? I've heard it both ways. Thanks a bunch guys