Claudio Godoy

You and I both, good luck!

Knowing now that coal isn't really necessary for any additional heat retention. I installed a small cross section to my tuyere and kept the fire going most of the day almost exclusively with the coke fines I sifted through from my ash dump. Worked out much better than I could have hoped with a little kindling mixed in when ever I was going to be away for a bit. I had a lot less trouble using only coked coal. Thanks for the help - Greg.

That´s a beautiful coal fire at your firepot, i´ve never managed to have one like this, the hot spot is always at middle depth and thats my problem i mentioned before. Do you know thw dimensions of yours?
And the trays below the forge are a great idea, i´ll copy (¿copiar?) your idea.

My current job is software engineering for the ALMA project a large radio telescope being built near San Pedro de Atacama. Unfortunately my part of the project ends this year so I will not be making any more trips to Chile that I currently know about.

If we had known earlier I could have brought down a stack of blacksmithing books for you. I did collect some scrap metal from the construction site to be welded up for a memento blade. (And learned to appreciate Pisco Sours not to mention having avocado puree for breakfast...)

Well, i hope some chilean guy screw up the system so they send you back here.
I have bought some books from ebay, including the 2 volumens of Mark Aspery´s books, and downloaded almost anything i found related to blacksmithing. But there is a little problem with my english, i don´t know some more specific words used in the books, or inclusively here at the forum that in spanish don´t have a literal translate and sometimes i cannot understand the idea and google isn´t realy effective with this terms. For example i don´t understand 100% what GregDP said above but i almost get the idea.

And yes, pisco sour is great, with half a bottle you are a happy guy, and the avocado is really great here. I think Chile exports both to US.



Best Regards.!

Would be great to be in presence of a real blacksmith. One of my dreams is to go to the US or Europe to participate in all the classes i could, regrettably for now i can´t.

My project at work has both centers in Germany and in Chile; I can order a beer in either place!

and i will fill your glass if you come here.

Hi Yoncofi,
If I understand you correctly, you are using the firepot to heat your metal, to heat the centre of the metal you need to build the fire above the level of the top of the firepot to allow material to pass through the hot spot, You may also have to increase your airblast if you build the fire above the top of the firepot.

That´s right. The problem is that i´ve never seen a forge working besides mine, so i don´t know if it´s correct to go with coals above the top of the firepot when it´s too deep, and it will consume all of my limited reserves of coal.

As Thomas says there are many sizes of firepots for many varied work situations, it is my experience that people tend to make their firepots too deep, particularly if doing work along the length of the workpiece, shallow is good. Another alternative may be to put another base into the firepot halving its depth.

Ok, good to know that there are different sizes for different works.

If the hot spot in your firepot is inside the pot then you need a smaller firepot or more coal and air blast to get the fire up over the top so you can stick steel in horizontally. In General you want a deep pile of coal so that all of the oxygen is consumed before it gets to the work. Many beginners work in a way too shallow fire.

Deep pile for the oxigen to consume and horizontal, thanks to remember me this important things. As i said before, i made this new firepot from the information i gather, mainly from the firepots for sale in centaurforge i think, and other web pages.

At times people will bend a piece to get a certain area into the hot spot especially if the piece is odd shaped and large for the forge being used.

That´s what i tried to do with the last work i was practicing with, cutting and luckily it was bended before. I´ll try to attach a photo i went to take after your first response. I hope you can see it.

So far your English is fine; much better than my Spanish and German!

German... maybe like my japanese...!!

Thanks a lot.

Thank you sir for your answer.
My problem is that i made a new firepor for my forge with the measures i found in several web pages and forums. The top opening is 10"x8", and the bottom 6"x4", but the depth has been always my problem, i made a 4" depth but seems to much when i go advancing into the stock (towards my hand) because to heat the middle of the bar i´d have to fill all this volume and more so i can put this part of the stock in the coal. When i work in the begining it´s no problem because i just burry it in the pot.
I don´t know if i explain it well, my english is not too good.
Regards.

can i ask you something?
by your experience and talking about efficiency, what are the best dimensions of the fire pot, or depends on the type of work you are doing, i mean, a blacksmith has two or three forges with different fire pot sizes or not?. I ask this cause im not completely happy with my forge.
regards.