Yancy

First of all thank you for your quick response Thomas. We could use either bit or anthracite as both as easily sourced in the area I live in. It really depends on what would be better for the projects we desire to make. Our end goal is to make blades, preferably kitchen knives and smaller knives(no longer than 10 inches for now). We will be working exclusively outside and it does not need to be portable although it would be an added bonus. We do intend to do a lot of forge welding as we are most interested in the beauty and complexity of different Damascus patterns (we are a long way from this I'm sure but it is good to have goals). I hope this is enough information to get a grasp on what direction you would recommend for us. Thanks again!

Hello everyone! Dave here from South East Pennsylvania. I have been using this sight frequently as it is arguably the best consolidated reference point on the web. I appreciate all of the input and shared expertise that this forum has to offer, and all of the people who have taken time away from forge and family to share it. I hope to some day be able to contribute to the community as well. About 3 months ago my friend and I decided we were done talking about blacksmithing and decided to dive in head first. We sourced an old 14" Champion blower and a decent 70lbs anvil of indistinguishable origin, bought some cheap paving stones and made a very basic and amateur forge from it. We designed, built, and fired our forge up and were heating steel to an orange glow in an afternoon. Shortly thereafter however, we realized that we had only made a forge capable of heating small projects (predominantly 1/2" rebar). We made a few changes based on information I read here and managed to get our forge to be more powerful. We are now confident that our proof of concept forge was a success, and are trying to get deeper into the wonderful world of smithing. Now down to the brass tax. We would very much like to find the best design for a simple coal forge for bit or anthracite coal. We are seeking good advice for where exactly to go from here. I can upload some pictures of where we are at now shortly but in the meantime I would really love some guidance to a good forge design that will keep us heating and beating. I look forward to hearing anything you guys have to offer. Thanks in advanced!