How do you get your " fire" lit?

[herchammer]

So, the boss let us go early today, (hurray!!) and I decided to slog, through the slush, to the shop. I moved a few items around, and decided I wanted to hammer out some square stock into strap, to secure that bouncing 200 lb HB of mine (I never thought 200 lbs would bounce like it does).I know it was a simple thing, and I was only hammering out the square stock because it's what I had to work with. I must have wandered around that shop for a half hour trying to figure out where to start first. So, all that being said; how do y'all start your time at the forge? I'm just interested to hear what traditions, habits, routines, and such you all have to "get your 'fire' lit". By the way, it was an enjoyable couple of hours at the anvil, and project accomplished!

Have a great weekend!

[DennisG]

What do I do to start my fire....

After unlocking and opening my "shop" (8'X10') I put the trash can outside the doors. I then move the space heater from it's spot facing the anvil. Since it gets to -20+C here I heat my anvil/shop with a space heater until I get a fire going. I clean out my fire pot from my last play date, separating the coke, clinkers and dust. I sweep it all clean then turn the blower on full for a quick blast to clean it. I fill my coal bucket, then take a few sheets of newsprint and make a ball. Putting the ball in the middle of the fire pot I surround it with fresh coal, then cover with a little kindling, start fire and turn blower on low. When flames start up nicely I add coke from the previous time and then turn up blower, add more coal to make a mound and put a hole at the top. When the fire is established I put 3 plates over it, these are heated and put on the anvil face to heat it, I will also lay my hammers on the edge to warm up also. While plates are heating, the shop is warming, I will unload the truck if need be or shovel snow. When the plates are hot and on the anvil, I sweep out the snow from the shop that I brought in and pick out the pieces I will need for the days work. After putting on my apron and hat, turning on my Ipod, I drink a little more coffee and get ready for the fun.

This is how I start out. I have to get my fire going quickly as it is cold here and I like to stay warm. I have worked in this unheated, uninsulated, gap openings in the roof line, with the front doors ajar at -25C and had reading of +40C once the fire was well under way.

[dablacksmith]

i kinda look over my inventory and figure what ime low on .. then think about what shows comeing up next (if ime at a show its the next show ime working toward) start hammering ... sometimes ile make a nail or to to get used to hammering and let my mind float (nail are real simple so no brain involved).

[Bad Creek Blacksmith]

Go out to the shop with thoughts of whats got to get done and go for it, don't stop or thats it for me.

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Well, let's see now, I come into the shop, flip the "on" switch on my induction forge, take 15 seconds to heat a piece of steel and start forging.

Got down to 50 last night, so I might need to light a fire in the wood stove.

[NRunals]

I always plan out what I'm going to do the night before. Then I wake up, have some coffee, stretch, get a fire going and begin.

[Mainely,Bob]

I ALWAYS use the 3P method;Proper Prior Planning.

Step 1-
Wait a minute,I used to know what step one was.
Hold on while I find the book(mutter,mutter).
HONEY,DO YOU KNOW WHERE THAT BOOK ON PLANNING WENT?
Let me get back to you on this...(wanders off looking for book and muttering)
;)

[David E.]

I get sidetracked so easily, I'll do anything other than what I should be doing. I have been told it's called "Peter's Syndrome". It's not life threatening I will just never be rich or know what retirement is. If someone knows the solution, please tell :unsure:

[chyancarrek]

I always save my shop clean up for the first thing in the morning.

I use the clean up time to just putter around putting things away, sweeping up then lining up tools and materials I need for the day's work.
It makes a great warmup for coming up to pace and "getting in the mood" for forging.

[Akad]

Well, one thing I've been doing lately is going to hardware stores and looking at all the stuff there and thinking about what I could make from different things. Then I go home, draw up some stuff, and then see what I can do.

Another thing that gets me uber motivated is music. Not just any music though. There's 2 things that really get me motivated to forge: Celtic/Folk type stuff, and VIKING METAL!!!!

Currently I'm listening to Turisas, a band from Finland. It's like other music in the metal genre, only the lyrics are about adventure, gold, sea faring, and war. And they also use a lot of instruments, like accordions and violins. However, depending on what generation you're from, you may not like em, and that's fine. But if it sounds like something you might be interested in, give em a shot.

I don't know why, but those 2 types of music really make me want to be around hot metal, and pound it and make something awesome.

[jimmy seale]

i just go out and have a fun and"hopefully" productive day/afternoon.....time at the forge is theroputic for me....jimmy

[Mainely,Bob]

Seriously,music does it for me too.

Once I get everything set to work I hit the play button and my motivator takes over.
What gets me going?Most times it`s Stevie Ray Vaughn.
I also like John (don`t call me cougar)Mellencamp and the for real Van Halen with Sammy Hagar.

[herchammer]

Jimmy,I can certainly identify with the forging time being theraputic. Just that short time this afternoon helped the stress of two very long weeks, start to melt away. Chyancarrec, I really like the idea of saving your shop cleanup for first thing. That seems to be the way I headed this afternoon. It allows my mind to switch from trying not to bend metal (I'm an aircraft maintainer, bent metal means no flyin') to heatin' and beatin'. Nakedanvil, no fair braggin :P

[mike-hr]

In these strange economic times my wife is bringing the scratch to make the big payments from her massage therapy gig. I admit, I feel bad sometimes, I've spent over 10 years working on my 'artsmith' moniker. I also never turn down welding up broken manure spreaders to track excavators, and parts in between. Last week we were down to the hated 'can't buy milk for breakfast' level. I have this strange enthusiasm for the work I do, I made a full size folded over wing great egret for a spec driveway gate I may get to do. When it was finished, i brought it in the house where the light was good and said to myself,"we don't need milk tomorrow, this thing looks great! Our town will eventually need someone like me, and I'll be there." I pulled a package of mystery meat from the deep freeze, turned out to be some kind of pork, I think, we ate good that night. I get a strong adrenaline hit from doing good work that the monthly balance sheet can't kill. There's a good circle of friends that come round the shop, to learn, and share. Having a friend or two around can help kindle creativity that would have remained just in thoughts otherwise. A bottle of single-malt scotch hiding in the stand up steel rack don't hurt either. The worst thing you can do is lose your childlike chance to imagine things. That's where the gold is.

[anvillain]

For me it depends on the season, as I don't have heat in my(shop) garage. Yes I could have but if I really want to forge that doesn't stop me. One of our old bosses in the building trades would say on a frosty morning " the heat's in the tools! I'd suggest you get a handful and get to work!" Thats true in my case, once I get a fire in the forge and get in the swing of it any more heat would be too much. In spring and summer I'll spend more time listening to the birds sing. pet the cat and rejoice in the sunny promise of a new day. Sometimes I actually get to work at what I planned on, but usually the phone rings and jerks me back to reality. One thing, I have made it a ritual to at least put my hammers and hand tools where they belong even if its the end of a long day. Sometimes when I come back I still have some stowing away of materials and clutter. Getting out there is the main thing the rest will happen, (or get interrupted)

Anvillain

[Frank Turley]

I'm using coal that has fairly large lumps, and it comes out of a mine near Durango, Colorado. I don't need to break all of it into pea size, but some of it I do with a tamper over a concrete pad. The small stuff helps when starting the fire. I use four full sheets of newspaper crumpled into a mushroom shape; this is in memory of being 20 miles from Los Alamos, NM, as the crow flies. I light the stem and it goes into the firepot stem down. I tend to smother the live flame with coke and the small green coal...which creates heap big smoke. The smoke mostly goes away when the flame breaks through. I use a whisper of a blast when starting, and it increases poco a poco. I tamp the fire lightly with my shovel and continue to feed as the paper burns away. With this coal, I have found that I can surround the fire with large lumps, and when heated, they will begin to coke up and fractionize. At that point, the coke is easily chipped into the center with the fire rake.

Years ago, Bud Beaston of the Oklahoma Farriers' School, was asked how big the pieces of coke should be when feeding the fire. He replied, "Gravy Trains!"

http://www.turleyforge.com

[Jeddly]

I am fortunate to be on a two week on, two week off work schedule. During my two weeks on, I am constantly daydreaming about what creations I can make while on my two weeks off. The time off is a blessing, and I always look forward to it.

When the time comes, I like to grind bean, make stout coffee, and wander out to the garage. But first, I usually check the forums and catch up with whats going on in 'internetland'. After all of the lollygagging, I hop, skip, jump out to the shop, fire up the i-pod/forge, and try to decide what else to do. Usually, before the forge is super hot, I sweep the floor, dust off the anvil, and assemble my hammers and other tooling.

I'll second the viking metal thing too, along with a healthy mix of American metal as well.

[Frosty]

I may have the original question wrong so take this as it is.

In part I think the question was how I lit my first fire or what got me started at the forge in the first place. Later on how I light a coal fire or set about getting started in the shop on any givin day, it varies.

I don't remember when I forged my first hot steel but I do remember where we lived and what I used for everything but the hammer, a ball pein it was. I couldn't've been 10, we moved from there when I was 10. My inspriation was . . . blacksmiths where ever and when ever I saw one, be it on "Have Gun Will Travel" on TV, at Knot's Berry Farm, in the day there was a smith there, at a fair and once I got to see someone shoe a horse. All in all it was fire, hammer, anvil and manipulating STEEL like plastic. Think about it, steel is the foundation of modern human civilization, has been for a lonnnng time and for a kid to be able to have his way with it with mankind's two oldest tools, something to hit with and fire, is all the inspiration I needed.

What was my first forge? The very first one was the cab off a largish Tonka truck and the bellows from the fireplace with a piece of black pipe on it.

My first anvil was the largest piece of steel I could carry from Dad's shop and it's stand was a wire milk crate.

Good enough for my first go. I didn't make anything but mashed steel though I was trying for a knife. Still, I got it HOT and deformed it like plastic on a home made anvil before I was 10.

My first "real" forge came several years and another house later. It was a brake drum set into a washing machine carcas's lid with a hair dryer for air. The hair dryer wasn't like you see now, it had a separate blower/heater that blew air through a hose to a plastic head hood thing. Well, needless to say it was PERFECT for a forge blower, I'm just glad Mother didn't find out what happened to her hair dryer.

Once again I was forging on the heaviest piece of steel I could drag from Father's shop, at least a couple hundred lbs worth of 2" x 4" steel bar. Dad used this size stock for making spinning lathes and there was about 5' left over from one.

The things I forged then were practical failures as nothing I tried to make turned out to be what I DID make. . . Still, it was something special, it sang to my soul in words and music I can still hear. I've never stopped loving the tune.

How I start a session now varies depending on what I'm doing. First it depends on if I'm continuing what I was doing the last time, if so I have very little set up to do, sweep and pick up scraps. I always put my hammers and tongs in their racks, the forge just turns off so unless it needs propane there's no prep there either. I may have to get some more stock and may go ahead and cut lengths in the saw if that's called for.

If I have a days work that's different enough from the day before there'll be more pickup and rearranging to do but I'll have given it plenty of thought before opening the shop door.

If it's winter I'll load and light the barrel stove and maybe move the propane forge closer to the man door so I can hang the window fan from the doorway blowing out to clear the CO. I've taken to using the turbo torch to preheat the anvil, it'll bring it up to nice and warm to the touch from zero in about 10-12 mins. much faster than heating steel in the forge and warming it that way.

The radio goes on right after the lights go on but the forge is often loud enough to drown it out. . . still. I think I'm going to check out some Viking Metal, sounds good to me. I like a lot of different music, a little country but mostly old rock, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, etc. for instance and metal, heavy is good,REAL GOOD, I like Celtic Woman too and Hawaiian surf music, not the Beach Boys surf music though I like them too but the old Hawaian's music, haunting, beautiful and for me inspiring.

Well, I think I've rambled long enough for now. What gets me into the shop is mainly the steel, the fire and being able to manipulate it with fire and hammer. It speaks to me.

Frosty the Lucky

[Bully]

Kiss the missus tell her I will see her at dinner time go out the back and into my forge, clean the clinkers out of the previous fire think about what I am going to heat and then adjust my fire pot accordingly (whether it be depth, grate size etc) light the fire put on some music (Charlie Parr or Kierin Kane or Slim Dusty or....whatever takes my fancy) and away I go.

[thecelticforge]

Motivation for me is almost never a problem. I get excited over almost every piece, even if it is an "S" hook. I have also found that if I give things away a couple of times a week, the look on the faces of the people keeps me going and happy. I know I am not going to get rich doing this, so I don't do it for the money, I do it for the happy!

[herchammer]

Lovin' the replies, you all have me curious about this Viking metal, I'm going to have to check it out. Well, out to find my way in the fire; talk with you fine folks later. B)

[Dan W]

I'm with 'thecelticforge' on this one. My main motovation is making something for someone else just to see the expression on their faces when I give it them and I dearly loved the look on my little brothers face the other day when he asked me if I had any eyebolts he could use for his deer stand I told him "I sure do, hand me that piece of threaded rod and tell me how many and what size you want" I really got a kick out of that.

[Frosty]

I'm with 'thecelticforge' on this one. My main motovation is making something for someone else just to see the expression on their faces when I give it them and I dearly loved the look on my little brothers face the other day when he asked me if I had any eyebolts he could use for his deer stand I told him "I sure do, hand me that piece of threaded rod and tell me how many and what size you want" I really got a kick out of that.

I love that look too Dan. Heck, it's part of the reason I do this at all.

Think about it, steel is what modern human civilization is built on, without steel it's grass hut, flaked stone and sharp stick time, forget your deer rifle and skinning knife.

Almost everybody views steel as the definitive example of strength and indestructibility. The man of steel, right? So here we are guys who take humanities oldest tools, a fire and something to hit with, (Yes, I've made a stone hammer and forged simple fire tools on a boulder on a bet) anyway, we use mankind's oldest tools and make STEEL do what WE want it to. Most folk view that as not a little bit like magic.

The result is how folk look at us when we transform a piece of steel into something entirely different let alone useful and often attractive sometimes with seeming ease.

Then there's what being able to do this does for us. It makes me feel good on a deep satisfying level. I can make steel do MY bidding with fire and hammer and or other tools I've made myself from . . . (you got it in ONE!) STEEL! It's like a super power!

Frosty the Lucky.

[Dale Russell]

My fires gone out , 10 months ago i hurt my shoulder in a work accident ( then terminated 3 weeks later )
That put me off track , did some forging for tree project ( here & at Glenn Moon's " Get HAMMERED " )

4 corterzone shot's ( standard ) 1 corterzone shot into laterial tendon , 2 DEEP corterzone shot's into shoulder joint ( think 4" needle into shoulder joint ) later & i'm still in pain .

My anvils got surface rust , my power hammer has not been turned on for 6 months , 1 small project just before Christmas that took me 10 days to complete ( if i was fine it woulda been a day )

Got " some of my spark " back 2 weeks ago , traveled 1000 Km's / 680 mile ( 1 way ) up to Glenn Moons for for a week
Got to help him with a project he's doing ( Driving a 7 ctw Massey hammer is a BLAST )


Home 3 days , seen specialist only to be told he wants to operate ( admitted he still has no idea why my shoulder hurts )

Depression SUCKS . Was a couple of time i felt like selling all my gear as i can't see the light at the end of the tunnel . Without the help of my wife & a couple of good mates i probably would have by now .

How do i get my fire lit ? .... Don't know !


Dale Russell

[John Larson]

The gasser is used for quick projects. Click. The coal forge is used for big objects and for controlled heat situations like heat treating. That is started with a section of newspaper rolled up into a monk's cap and a very light setting on the electric blower; a sprinkling of coake or coal over the top. Works with one match almost every time. If the firepot isn't clean I do that first. As for my personal fire, it isn't always there that's for sure. It is usually strongest when I'm searching for an answer to a problem--like my first damascus billet or a new feature on one of my hammers. It is usually weakest when I'm bored with repetitive tedium. In that situation I find it useful to just change to a new project. My to-do list is always 100 times longer than I can ever accomplish.