how much more heat can you get

[coalfired]

a no brainer question from a newbie. how much hotter will a coal fire be, say over a fire made with charcoal ? I've even heard that you could use wood fuel pellets. time and money tight right now to make a coal run.

[Charlotte]

Charcoal will get as hot as you absolutely need for 99% of smithing including forge welding. The main difference is that heat is pound of carbon per consumed per unit time. Coal, because it converts to coke and has volital compounds to support the fire and is denser is certainly more convenient a fuel source. Member here have reported using a wide range of materials as fuels even burning dry corn for fuel. One member uses charcoal made by adding chunks to the edge of his fire as he works.

The big difference is that a charcoal fire management is different from coal fire management. You need a bigger pile and wider blast to burn the same amount of carbon in the same period of time.

[coalfired]

thanx for info on fuel sources. I work at a custom wood mill shop and have access to loads of hard and soft kiln dried wood scraps. could there be a decent way to convert this to charcoal and still mantain good relations with my next door neighbors.

[chrisfrick]

Coalfired--google "charcoal retort" for making charcoal. I don't know what kind of neighbors/neighborhood/yard size/proximity to other houses you have, but you may be able to get away with making a small retort out of maybe a 30 gallon drum (may be able to get away with using something else, like an old webber grill, but I think the metal may be too thin for it). I, unfortunately live in a neighborhood where the houses are maybe separated on the sides by about 20 feet so can't really do it in my backyard. I've been thinking about going over to my Dad's house to give it a try as he lives in a more rural setting.

You could also ask your boss/supervisor/owner of the mill, space permitting, if you could make a small setup there (may open up a whole new branch of business for them too, if you have massive amounts--truck loads of scrap)?

[Francis Trez Cole]

get the neighbor to help once my neighbors find out what I am doing they want to see how it works.

[ThomasPowers]

Smithing coal and charcoal have nearly the same BTU content per *pound*. The density of charcoal is MUCH less though so you have to shovel a lot more of it through the forge during a session.

As I tell my students "They will both get hot enough to burn up your steel---how much hotter do you need to get?"

[son_of_bluegrass]

I read somewhere that the theoritical upper limit for both charcoal and coal is around 4000 degrees F.
Just a bit of useless trivia I picked up somewhere.

ron

[coalfired]

there is local welding/metal fabrication shop about 3 miles from work swung by after work last night and got enough coal to fill a 22 gal trash bin for ten bucks. He doesn't use it to forge with, he restores old steam tractors as a hobby. Does any one out there know where he could pick up a large quantity at a reasonable price. Somewhere within a reasonble distance from mid-missouri.

[keithgartner]

Yes I do, as a matter of fact.