Fe-Wood Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 I've been using my solid fuel forge more and more lately and I find a mixture of Coal and Coke works best for me. Depending on what I am doing, I go from 30% to 50% Coal mixed with the coke. I use a hand crank blower because I like that it shuts down while I'm out of the fire. I like to use around 30% coal for general forging. Its nice because I can revive the fire faster between heats and helps with the fire structure. If I will be longer between heats, I like to add more coal to the mix as it helps keep the fire going longer without air. I tend not to use water to help with coking and banking because I don't feel the need. I'm curious what others do- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 My fire started out as a coal fire and I always make sure that there is coke left over from each days fire for the next days fire. There is always a bank of coke that gets mixed with the raw coal as I forge.Therefore I reckon I mix coal and coke. The leftover coke from the previous fire allows helps me to get forging faster since i am not waiting for the coal to coke over. If I am going to do any welding, I will use coal to build a dome. I like to use very fine damp coal to form the top of the dome and feed coal/coke inside. Works for me. Mark <>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccustomknives Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 I just use the coke from the last forging session. I have a friend that mixes charcoal and coke, he says it keeps the fire burning longer when not using the blower. I don't know how you guys like to start your fires, I've found the best thing is 4 or 5 pine cones. light them, hit the blower and cover them up. It's the fastes fire starter I have found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 I don't know how you guys like to start your fires, I've found the best thing is 4 or 5 pine cones. light them, hit the blower and cover them up. It's the fastes fire starter I have found. I'm lucky! My dog likes to shred sticks into kindling right outside my roll up door. If I run out of that, I use the a Gray Pine cone to start my fire. At one point I had a bunch of pine cone parts from squerrels getting the seeds. That was the best fire starter I have found. I should also mention I don't bank my fire before I quit for the day or anything. I just stop. I get both coal and coke in bulk and keep 2 five Gallon buckets (1 of each) under the forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 ive switched to all coke.... no more black snot! (or at least not as bad) also lasts a lot longer ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 I shovel my fire into a metal pail with a tight lid when I am done. When I start I have coal and coke....or corn and charcoal sometimes with sprouts. (It is sometimes months between lighting the forge for me) I keep some store bought lump charcoal around to start, I use a double handful and light that with a plumber's torch, then add my fuel I am using. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Ya I mix the coke that Mccellan sells with coal about 50-50 give or take I find that it burns cleaner and will stay lit for a few minutes with no air. If I am going to be away from the forge for more than just a few minutes I will put a chunk of wood in the fire that will keep it going for a good 15- 20 minutes. I learned that from Brian Brazeal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Roy Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 I start my fire with 3 full sheets of newspaper balled up, light it, add air and rake coke over it. I keep the air going until I have a solid fire going. Once the fire is well started, with the air off, it will maintain glowing coke in the firebox for up to several hours. I've never had to resort to a chunk of wood in the fire, what am I doing wrong? Shutting down I spread the glowing coals out to expose them to the environment. The fire goes out in about three minutes. I pick out any clinkers before starting the next fire. I start every fire with coke left from the previous one. I don't know about mixing coke with coal, the coal becomes coke soon enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Riffe Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 At my son Daniel's forge we primarily use coke in his solid fuel forge, but we augment it with charcoal that I make from cast off lumber and pallets every Sunday. We make the charcoal via direct burn in a three 16 gallon size oil drums stacked retort. We end up with 10 - 16 gallons of good charcoal which Daniel uses up in a week (solid forge burns about 36 hours a week and the propane forge about 6 hours a week). Daniel primarily uses the charcoal to keep the coke fire lit when not using the blower and to increase the heat substantially when we are forging hammer size billets. I am not sure if we save much money using the charcoal we make, but it feels good using the wood people bring us! Cheers all, chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Yates Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I use liter knot to start mine it burns hot wet or not it is a pine not it will glow in the dark at night so it is easy to gather , it sticks to coal well and coke if it makes it that far . it is usualy consumed in the first part of the fire and very little is needed to get the fire started with a blower (hand crank) I mix my coal and coak but no need to as i can get all the coal I need from the Hills round me it is laying everywhere in all sizes from marbles to Vdub sizes . Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spurrit Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 ive switched to all coke.... no more black snot! (or at least not as bad) also lasts a lot longer ... Could you do a step by step on getting the coke going? I've got a coupla rivet forges, and finally got some coke(got the second forge with blower and a storage tub of coke for $25 from one of my horshoeing clients) Can't seem to get it very hot or keep the fire going. Considered hiring a neighborhood kid to run the crank, but...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Blythin Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 I like to burn a mix of charcoal and coke. Charcoal is actually my prefered fuel to work with, but you go through so much of it ... I find adding in some coke (usually a 50/50 mix) slows down the rate at which I go through the charcoal. I've tried straight coke, but also have difficulty getting it hot and keeping it going in my small forge (with the hand crank blower). It wants to go out as soon as the air stops. Hence the charcoal to keep the fire going. If I hook up the electric blower, and keep the air going (even at a fairly low rate), then I can burn straight coke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Is there a coke manufacturer on line that can deal with this thread? I've wondered why purchased "metallurgical coke" is so hard and behaves in a stubborn manner for us smiths. I got to my search engine and learned a little. The green coal is baked in an oven at high temperatures to drive the tars and gasses out. It coagulates into a huge lump, maybe the size of a half box car and gets quenched. It is then broken up somehow into lumps. Currently, poor coking grade coal can be improved by adding a pitch-like material. Metallurgical coke is designed for blast furnaces and foundries and I'm sure it works OK in continuous blast for those purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Metallurgical coke is designed for blast furnaces and so has to be hard to prevent it from squishing under a tall stack of it. (Why some types of charcoal were preferred for smelting as they resisted squishing better than others.) Coke also used to be made for producer gas production to run gas lights and stoves---remember all the old "sticking your head in the oven as a mode of suicide" references? Gas used to have a high level of CO in it from being producer gas rather than being natural gas from wells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.