James Drescher

Thanks for the advice! Any idea where I can get fire clay to be shipped to Hawaii?

Thank you very much! Yes, I wanted a good sized table for the coal and I was considering welding some extra metal on the end and putting holes in it for tongs when I develop the ability to handle those. For now, I'll leave my metal at a decent size to manipulate it by hand! Will definitely consider using the kegs for a slack tub. Thanks so much for the advice. Thank you, Frosty. I will definitely consider changing the ash gate's design to a flap cap as per your advice! Coal smoke explosion sounds alittle dangerous..is it a common occurrence? It is odd that I haven't come across it during my research into utilizing coal as a fuel source. Thanks again! I will definitely consider your advice and use a thicker piece of steel. Thank you very much!

Hello all! I just finished my first forge on my blacksmithing journey. After receiving some great advice from fellow IFI members, I decided to stick with my brake drum coal forge because I was, more or less, nearly finished with obtaining all the necessary components for it. However, in the near future, I will consider switching to either a gas forge or charcoal! Anyways, I wanted to share some pictures of the finished forge. Any "constructive" criticism would be greatly appreciated...see what I did there? Sorry, my humor's a bit on the dry side. Please enjoy! I am planning on building a side draft chimney to control the smoke (there was ALOT of smoke when I lit the coal initially). I certainly need practice maintaining the fire and using the right amount of coal and air (I only had it running for maybe 30 mins just to see if it would get a fire going). Cheers!

Will consider it thank you! I took a look at the blower..I will consider it thank you! Thanks for the input!

Thanks for the input! Thank you very much! I decided to stick with coal for now since my forge is nearly complete and it would take alot of time switching to charcoal since I would need to redesign my forge and create a kiln to make charcoal..it is definitely something ill look into making in the future. Thanks again!

Hello everyone, I am in the process of building a coal forge to begin my journey in blacksmithing and had a question as to the blower I chose for it. I picked up a *cheap* ventilation fan, and now I am unsure it will be sufficient to provide not only proper airflow but also necessary pressure for the burning of coal for my new forge. I was thinking about purchasing the 3" coal forge blower from Blacksmith Depot instead because it has an actual pressure rating for it (780 pascals, 79.54 mmAq, 180 CFM) vs 50 CFM (only info I can get from the fan I have now) Am I better off with a cheap hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, or shop vac vs the ventilation fan? Or, just go for the more pricey Depot blower? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!

Thank you very much for your input, Mr. Powers! I will definitely do more research into making charcoal and utilizing a charcoal forge instead of coal.

At present, I have 75 pounds of coal that I bought off of eBay for, I believe, 20-25 dollars for 25 pounds. Thats about a dollar a pound. I haven't looked into charcoal, but from the research that I did on fuel sources, I thought that coal would be the best for me because of the relative high heat output that coal can provide. Also, I found some online posts that claimed that if you burn charcoal, you will need much more than if you burn coal. Is this true? Regardless, I will certainly look into using charcoal. The problem I will have is finding charcoal that isnt for grilling food!! I was fortunate to have received a piece of rail track from a family friend during my search for an anvil. At my residence, there was an old cyprus tree that was cut down to a stump and I used that as a base for the rail track. I used a chainsaw to cut a notch in the stump and placed the track upside down, so I have a greater surface area to work with. The track feels very firm within the stump! I hope it works out. ( anvil prices and shipping to Hawaii is ridiculous!!) Thanks for the warm welcome, Frosty!

Aloha! My name is James Drescher, and I am from the Big Island of Hawaii. I reside in the rainy town of Hilo, located on the east coast of Hawaii. As an aside, I have just recently graduated from the University of Hawaii at Hilo with a bachelors degree in Nursing. I have been interested in blacksmithing for a few years now, but have only recently began the building my solid fuel forge (for coal). My plans for the immediate future of exploring this wonderful craft is to first make my own tools. I plan to make tools to tend my coal fire such as a rake and poker and then try my hand at the various ways you can move metal on an anvil with a hammer. Then, as I get better at tending a coal fire and have accustomed to striking with a hammer, I'll move on to other tools such as hammers or axes. In the future, I would like to make knives or even try my hand at making a sword! I hope to learn alot from this forum and its members!!! Thank you very much and take care. P.S.- I will add pictures as I finish my forge table!