Charcoal

[Musika]

Hey, i haven't been here in a long time, like to add I like the new look.

I was wondering, why is charcoal actually used instead of regular wood as fuel in most cases?

I read that it is cleaner to burn, thus it helps keep the metal from contaminating. Also, it is supposed to burn slower and at a lower tempurate. Which i'm sure is not true. Can you guys help me out?

Thanks

Musika ♪

[Sam Falzone]

Hey, i haven't been here in a long time, like to add I like the new look.

I was wondering, why is charcoal actually used instead of regular wood as fuel in most cases?

I read that it is cleaner to burn, thus it helps keep the metal from contaminating. Also, it is supposed to burn slower and at a lower tempurate. Which i'm sure is not true. Can you guys help me out?

Thanks

Musika ♪

Hi Musilka,

Charcoal is a great fuel source for smithing - I've tried all types and have to say that charcoal is among my favourites. You can use wood as a fuel source as well - it will turn into charcoal after all when you burn it. But what I've understood over the years is that charcoal is to wood, what coke is to coal. The first is esentially the by-product of the other after all the water and impurities have been "cooked" out of it. So charcoal and coke burn much cleaner than wood or coal - this gives you better smithing conditions especially when forge welding.
But I've always suspected that there had to be some practical advantages to charcoal as well. For example, charcoal is much lighter and easier to store over long periods than wood is (at least I think so), and since you don't have to wait for the original wood to carbonize, you can get to smithing faster.

That's pretty much all I got. I'm sure there are others on this forum who could give you a lot more information on the subject, but I hope this hepled.

Cheers

sam

[ThomasPowers]

Charcoal was a common fuel way back then; lighter to ship per BTU than wood. Burns hotter than wood and you don't have the smoke issues that you have when burning wood. When I use charcoal I often will make it in a raised firepit so the smoke isn't in my face and just transfer hot coals to the forge as needed.

[borntoride]

Musika, I have used charcoal in a primitve forge while doing some living history demonstrations at a California Mission. I asked the docent why they use charcoal. His answer was that there is a lot of pine and other hardwoods in the area. The charcoal was easy to make in large quanities and was easy to store. As Thomas Powers said there is less smoke problems. The forge at the Mission was a raised brick platform with a side bellows. I have used pine charcoal and mesquite charcoal they both work very well. However,the mesquite throws alot of sparks. So after all that, the short answer as well as I can tell is that it works better then just plain wood. Hope this helps.

BTR

[Mainely,Bob]

For an excellent explanation of how charcoal was produced both in small batches and on a larger scale(25-40 cord at a time)using the old methods you can look to Eric Sloane`s book "A Reverence for Wood".
It`s well worth the read.

[DocJohnson]

Musika,

I'd like to ad to the other's answers to your question. In using charcoal versus wood, charcoal allows for a more closely packed fire, which is necessary to heat the stock. A wood fire burning enough carbon to attain necessary temperatures would be large enough that one could not work near it. I know some do small things that way, I have too. Charcoal to some extent, also acts as its own refractory. A good fire made of it will burn steel just as easily as a coal fire.

Charcoal was the earliest of fuels used in metalworking. It was called "coal." People who made charcoal were called colliers. Much of the forest in Europe was cut down for making charcoal. Forests in the new world were also used extensively.

"Mineral coal" was mined from the surface and used, but it was not until the centrifugal governor was used to regulate the steam engine, allowing water to be pumped from deeper mines, that mineral coal was used on an industrial scale.

For me, learning the history of the technology is a big part of what I enjoy about smithing.

I hope this helps, DocJohnson

[double_edge2]

i pretty much use charcoal for most of my forging. wood, would keep a cooler fire until the impurities burn off leaving sufficient char to attain its greater heats.
i like it as there is only the ash to put through the garden, or make lye, and some(less than coke) gum/impurities, as lumps of clinker.

while the byproducts of timber give flame, for wheatever you want it for, wood gas for powering whatever engines also, and the miriad of other bits and uses, charcoal wood be my pick for forging. (my analogy would be, forging with timber is like trying to run a petrol car on crude oil. better to distill it.)

raw, or undistilled timber for forging, while you get plenty of flame, if air assisted, and at the face layers of the fire some considerable heat (depending on the air, shape of the fire, and type of timber. however ive usualy only managed a red to dull orange heat in steel from air assisted, undistilled timber.

The coals from a fire, transfered to a forge, or dowsed and used later for forging, gives you the, "metal flowing down the drain as you take too long to role your smoke"...effect.