Hello,

I have only been blacksmithing for a short time on a propane forge. But in an effort to move on to bigger, and better things, I purchased a used coal forge. I think I got a good deal it seems to work and be in good shape. I paid $100.

now for the questions

1. I have been reading about claying, which I need to do. do I clay the entire pan, or just in the well in the center?

2. what type of grate should I get / make. the guy I got it from just had some expanded metal there. the triangular piece in the middle (to remove clinkers?) sticks up above the top of the hole it sits in.

3. When I load coal and start a fire in it, do I keep it in the center depressed area?

I know these are dumb questions, but any help appreciated

PoundHound

hi, im new too, but i do use a coal forge so i believe i can answer questions two and three. as for the grate, its a matter of personal prefrence somepeople have a convex plate of metal with about ywo dozen holes drilled in, other people find that a simple weilded "X" in the center fits their needs. it will also depend on the size of coal you are using, if you have smaller size coal, you need more covered area in the grate to keep coal from slipping down.

you do want to keep the coal near the grate, although when you get the grate it may push the coal above the depression, but you want to keep what coal you have near the fire so that it burns and turns to coke. you will have stray buts that fall off the coal mound but thats what they made coal shovels and rakes for.

By the way, i dont know how long you have been on IFI but im sure that everyone will agree that there is no such thing as a stupid question. i could ask you very similarly novice questions about propane forges just because that is out of my area of knowledge.

and by the way that forge looks EXACTLY like mine although i had to take the blower off of mine because it had rusted to the piont of no return