Hardwood charcoal sparking like mad

[JimsShip]

Ok what's the secret to using hardwood charcoal?
I've not had a lot of forge time, (I learned on a bellows run coal forge) and have never encountered this problem.
I tried using the hardwood charcoal today and every time I cranked the blower a bit to get the heat going millions of crackling sparks rise up and create a ruckus. Am I supposed to wet the charcoal, or soak it or something?
It wasn't at all like I expected!

[Michael]

I use charcoal a lot and a fair amount of wetting is necessary to keep the sparks down. I find the longer I work the more of that "devils popcorn" the pea sized bits of glowing charcoal, tend to accumulate and spill out. The type of wood the charcoal was derived from seems to make a difference as well. Mesquite is by far the worst! I've had good luck with Cowboy Brand charcoal, which seems to be made of building material scraps.

[ThomasPowers]

Damp charcoal sparks a lot more than dry charcoal. Some smiths pile the charcoal on the sides and let it "dry out" before raking it into the fire.

And of course I hope this is chunck charcoal and not briquettes as briquettes are composed of small bits of stuff and so have that problem innately (as well as others---better softwood chunk charcoal than hardwood briquettes!)

Some hardwoods contain sap pockets that then make for more sparks. Some gourmet charcoals are not fully charred to allow the smoke flavour from the wood to be present, (mesquite often has both those issues in spades!)

I don't water my charcoal. I build a restricted firepot with fire bricks and then only have the charcoal I'm using in it.

Note that charcoal takes far less air than coal and over blowing it will waste fuel and produce more sparks.

[Sam Falzone]

Charcoal is pretty much my primary forging fuel so I have quite a bit of experience with it.
You may actually have multiple things happening causing all this "sparking" (... I call them fire-fleas).

First off, bagged charcoal tends to have a lot of fines mixed in with it and that's just charcoal getting ground together during handling and transport. These tend to be most concentrated at the bottom of the bag, but can be added to your fire every time you up-end the bag and add more fuel. The easiest solution is sift and grade your charcoal. Sift out the fines from each bag of charcoal - some smiths even grade their charcoal, busting up large pieces until they have charcoal lumps about the size of walnuts. It does deliver a much more consistent heat, but the smiths I knowI only do this step when smelting. After sifting and/or grading, you could also store your charcoal in a separate container (- like an old wicker basket) so that you're using a shovel or grabbing handfuls of charcoal to fuel your fire instread of up-ending a bag full.

If this is your first time using charcoal and you've learned on coal, I'm guessing you're using a bottom-blast forge. Bottom-blast forges are great with coal because coal is heavier than charcoal. A strong blower on a bottom-blast forge can send sparks, embers and whole coals flying out of a forge because charcoal is less dense than coal. I find side-blast forges work best with charoal. Charcoal CAN be used on a bottom-blast forge, but you have to be more careful - ease-up on the blower or modify your grate to difuse the air more (use smaller holes and more of them).

Wetting your charcoal can help a bit in controling sparks, but I tend to use wetting to control charcoal consumption - wet down the carcoal around the outside of the pile that is away from the hot centre to prevent the fuel from being burned up for no reason.

Don't give up on charcoal yet. It takes some adjusting to but it is a great fuel to use. It is much cleaner than coal, gives much cleaner welds when forge-weldng, and if you're interested in history, it doesn't get more old-school that charcoal. Good luck. Try changing some of the things I mentioned and see if it helps, but the truth is you're never going to get rid of all the fire-fleas - there will always be some. For me, I tend to forge outside most of the time anyway - so long as I'm not getting embers or coals shooting out of my forge, I tend to ignore the fire-fleas ... they're mostly harmless (... though I did catch one on the tongue last month ...).

Cheers.
Sam.
Hamilton, ON.

[Tom Allyn]

I'll echo Michael, I've had good luck with Cowboy brand and bad luck with mesquite. And lump charcoal that isn't charred thoroughly seems to pop the most.

[MattBower]

They do that sometimes. I don't think it's your expanded metal.

[JimsShip]

I was using naturals charcoal, not briquettes, and I do habe a bottom blast forge that I was cranking pretty steadily, so I bet all of what was said applies.
(I love the fire flea, and Devil's popcorn descriptions!)
I'll give it another try, at least to finish the bag, but luckily I have some coal ready to go.
Thanks all!

[ThomasPowers]

Use the charcoal to start the fire and then add coal to go on with it.

[double_edge2]

Use the charcoal to start the fire and then add coal to go on with it.

Exactly..... And if forging with it, keep it dry,, ( less to no sparks) and always wear your glasses.

[cracker72]

I also use charcoal, but I make it myself. I find softwood makes the best. The charcoal seems to retain the resinous quality of the wood and therefore won't go to fines so easy. Lighter hardwoods are trouble, but I still use them I've just built the forge to suit the fuel. I've got a 12" round fire pot, 4" deep, with a very low hood and shielded sides and a hair dryer motor blowing into a 3/4" pipe to the bottom of the pot, plenty powerful enough. Sparks like crazy but it's contained so not a problem.

[Bentiron1946]

I was reading an article on ancient Irish metalsmithing and it indicated that over 50% of the charcoal used was oak with the lighter hard woods making up another 30% or so and the remainder was pine. Now if I could just remember the exact number of pounds of charcoal it took to produce one pound of copper from ore, something like 20 pounds, it was less charcoal for one pound of iron from ore by about a fourth. No wonder there are so many primal forests missing from the world when you consider how much was cut down to make charcoal for metalsmithing, heating and cooking not to mention slash and burn agriculture. I quit using it because of the spark issue and my tender dry conditions on the home acreage, definitely not a good combination.

[John McPherson]

Yes the firefleas sting your skin, and burn tiny holes in your shirts. But they are part of the romance and mystery of the forge. Watching them is primal, like a campfire. No one sits around camp staring at an electric light. This is a reduced copy of my desktop background, the original is too large to upload. I took it at a museum demo I did last year.

[Bentiron1946]

That would surely set the desert alight alright :o

[billp]

I find the fleas most annoying hitting my hands and lower arms. After finding a set of very thin leather gloves at Sam's, using them help me deal with the fleas in charcoal or coal. Which I know using gloves make me a wimp but they are so thin it really does not disturd my feel of the hammer or the metal much if any at all, and have saved me several burns in the process. Oh and I always use my safety glasses as you just never know where the fire fleas will land.

One question though, in comparing like a 5 gal pail of charcoal to coal, to me I seem to use twice as much charcoal, does that sound about right or am I doing something wrong? I use charcoal when I'm having trouble finding coal but in truth prefer coal. Part of it is the fire fleas and the other part is the amount of charcoal I seem to go through.
billp

[cracker72]

I find the fleas most annoying hitting my hands and lower arms. After finding a set of very thin leather gloves at Sam's, using them help me deal with the fleas in charcoal or coal. Which I know using gloves make me a wimp but they are so thin it really does not disturd my feel of the hammer or the metal much if any at all, and have saved me several burns in the process. Oh and I always use my safety glasses as you just never know where the fire fleas will land.

One question though, in comparing like a 5 gal pail of charcoal to coal, to me I seem to use twice as much charcoal, does that sound about right or am I doing something wrong? I use charcoal when I'm having trouble finding coal but in truth prefer coal. Part of it is the fire fleas and the other part is the amount of charcoal I seem to go through.
billp

Yeah sounds right. I use loads of the stuff but at least I don't have to pay or it! Coal is very expensive in the UK!

[Sam Salvati]

Your main problem is you are probably using a coal forge but burning charcoal in it, it's too open, alot of charcoal forges you see in shops still using them there is almost a gas forge style box over the actual fire that catches and focuses the fireflies away from the user.

[billp]

I would like to see a good charcoal forge as back up to use charcoal correctly would not be bad to have.
billp

[Kid Blacksmith]

well i thought that was just me. wet it is what everyone else is saying so i say just try it

[Ric Furrer]

Your main problem is you are probably using a coal forge but burning charcoal in it, it's too open, alot of charcoal forges you see in shops still using them there is almost a gas forge style box over the actual fire that catches and focuses the fireflies away from the user.

The enclosed charcoal fire depends upon culture and time period.
Vikings used hearth stones on the bellows side:
http://picasaweb.google.com/102019892510547778122/SmeedcursusOpenluchtmuseumEindhovenSeptember2009#5383926701052857842

but no records of a "cave" for the fire.

The Japanese did much the same.

I have tried both and by having some bricks over the fire it will burn hotter....just like an oven, however....many operations in a general forge shop will require the roof to be lifted frequently.
Ric

[Tom Allyn]

The enclosed charcoal fire depends upon culture and time period. Vikings used hearth stones on the bellows side: ..... but no records of a "cave" for the fire.

I make a 'cave' for the fire when I'm burning charcoal. I have some 16" fire bricks which span over the fire. I close the back end with 2 bricks that I can slide apart in order to pass long material through the forge.

Coal takes more tending so I leave the forge open for burning coal.