kayakersteve Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Hello to all! I have been lurking for awhile and really just getting started into smithing (hobbyist). Real profession is medicine. I Have worked with a local smith, Mitch Fitzgibbons, from Mayville NY to learn the very basics. Now my son and I are plodding along trying to learn as much as possible. This site has been a great reference so far. I have built my own coal forge with hood and chimmney. The firepot is 4 inches deep and seems to work very well. My main questions at this point are about tending the coal. Specifically, 1 - I have been placing green smithing coal around the edges and slowly adding to fire as needed once seems to be coke - This is correct, I assume? 2 - After I let fire die out, I seem to have a mixture of very heavy stuff as well as very light stuff which looks and feels like coke. Is the heavy stuff waste? How do I discern what is good to keep for next fire and what needs to be removed? This seems to be my main issue now. Once I figure out how to post pics, I will get some up. Thanks in advance SteveB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 You'll have fly ash which is powdery. You'll want to get rid of that. The irregular shaped and perhaps oddly colored pieces are clinkers and are mostly at the bottom around the tuyere. Get rid of the clinker, as it is earthy matter that is entrained as the coal is formed. Coke should be lighter than green coal and is "charcoal gray" a popular suit and pants color in the 1950's. It is the combustible stuff that you want, so save it for your next fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert hanford Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Also I might add that when you cut the blast and pull the fire apart, sometimes there there is coke which is halfway between coal and and the completely formed fluffy light coke. It can feel heavier, but works for the next fire. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 I feed green coal from each side and add coke as needed on top so the fire tends to be longer than wider. For me, this helps keep the smoke down to a manageable level. If I want a "cave" fire, it's easy to add coal to the back and close it so the work is always introduced from the front which is facing me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 I use coal as well, and often have to quickly pack up shop and drag everything back in the garage, and i don't have time to let the fire die out. Someone here gave me a tip to shovel all the hot coals from the forge into a bucket of water. The coke will float to the top, and you can look over the sunk stuff to see what you can dump. (I sift it off and let it dry) It's a bit messy, but it allows me to quickly put out the fire and not waste anything. You'll learn soon enough what's clinker and what's green coal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 A clincker will have a ceramic or glassy look to it when it is cooled off like brown glass. when it is hot you will see it in the fire down near you air supply it will look black and when you pull it out of the fire it will have a hard metallic sound to it when you use your rack to pull it out of the fire. It will such the heat out of the fire and keep you from reaching welding tempature. Coal the looks sedimentary in consistency will be loaded with the impurities that will cause clinkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricko13 Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 I'm going to keep an eye on this thread. Thanks for the tips folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayakersteve Posted November 21, 2012 Author Share Posted November 21, 2012 Excellent tips so far. I had kind of figured the clinkers were they heavy metallic stuff - I guess I can just toss that in my driveway where I need fill? Any other use for it? As always, you guys are great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chichi Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 The coal I get is pretty dirty and makes a lot of clinkers. It also tends to burn easily around the perimeter of the fire pot where it is just wasting heat. It does not coke up real well and so I use water to keep the outer flame at a minimum.I can weld with it and am used to this quality. I always wonder if using water is really helping (economically) because the fire restarts within a minute or so after being wetted. Any thoughts on using water on the fire(around the perimeter and on green coal)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 The coal I get is pretty dirty and makes a lot of clinkers. It also tends to burn easily around the perimeter of the fire pot where it is just wasting heat. It does not coke up real well and so I use water to keep the outer flame at a minimum.I can weld with it and am used to this quality. I always wonder if using water is really helping (economically) because the fire restarts within a minute or so after being wetted. Any thoughts on using water on the fire(around the perimeter and on green coal)? I also have coal which is made up mostly of fines and generates a lot of clinker. Try pre-soaking some of your coal in a 5 gallon bucket. Fill it about 2/3 to the top and add a quart or two of water, then let it sit for 10-15 minutes. I normally make up a bucket before I clean out the pot from the prior fire so by the time I get the fire lit the coal has soaked for a while. I add the wet coal to the sides of the fire - not on top. This may help you with the initial coking process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayakersteve Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 I am using the brand 'smithing coal' - Does anyone know about its quality? I get 50 pounds for $5.00 around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarry Dog Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I'm definitely an Newbie but here's a few things I've noticed after I break down the fire: -Clinkers tend to stick to their buddies when they're still hot. I've seen a firepot full of em come out as one big lump...I don't know how my buddy kept it burning. -Clinkers tend to look like rounded copper nuggets when cool. I chuck anything round when I'm screening. I have no idea if the color is peculiar to the coal I've used. -Clinkers make a "tink" sound when they hit metal surfaces (e.g. anvils) or each other. -Ash doesn't burn well and sometimes forms little light grey lumps that crumble to dust when you squeeze 'em. -Coke is substantially lighter than coal, feels kinda like pumice stone, and doesn't have the slick/gritty feeling to it that coal does. -When I used to dumped in green coal (dumb new guy move), a lot of clinker seemed to form. I found that coking on the sides of the fire left me with almost no clinker from the same batch of coal. I don't even use green coal if I'm out of coke to start, instead I heap up some oak kindling, start the fire, and let the coal coke first. -You're probably not going to have clinker outside of your firepot. I put the stuff around the pot and the stuff that was in the pot on opposite sides of the forge when I'm done. It also doesn't hurt to spread the remnants of the firepot out so that they die faster. I also noticed a few things while my fire was going (Currently using a bottom-blast): -When starting your fire, put the remnants of firepot onto about 1/4"(5mm?) screen and sort out all the crud mentioned above. -The sides of the firepot seem to congeal into a mass of coke. -If you keep the coal pressed up tight around the fire pot and pry these masses off of the sides, the coke starts burning, the coal falls in, and begins to turn into coke itself. (I have no idea why, but I just figured this out recently) -It helps if you add a little sprinkle of water while doing this. -When sprinkling water on the coal, and for about a minute after, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AIRFLOW!!! If you don't have airflow it will backblast down the tuyere and make your ears ring from 20 feet away. I saw flames shoot out of the joints of the tuyere on a forge that did it about 2 weeks ago. It sounded like a shotgun when off, and dumped soot down my back off of the chimney I was under. -Don't forget to feed your fire. If you leave it for a little while, make sure to come back every once in awhile and give it a crank or 5 to get the heat back up and give it a little fuel or it will die on you. -As your fire gets older it's heart gets colder. Sometimes it's better to just break it down and start over. -Burning off galvanization in large quantities is not advised. The least it will do is make your life a living he** (vomiting, bathroom, fever, and the worst headache ever, for a few days). The worst it can do is kill you, although there's dispute over that one. I'm not even gonna chance it. They don't call it metal fume fever for nothing, I've seen my dad with it from a welding job he did. -If you use a fire to burn off even a small amount of galvanized, just kill your fire when your done, cool the remnants of the firepot in water, and throw it in the garbage. I hear you'll never get a weld with that fire and if you get any of the zinc on what you're working that weld won't hold, even 2 fires later. I tried, and the horseshoes i practice on usually break before the welds do. (I made a galvanized lag bolt into a wedge for a loose hammer head and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, when the instructor saw what was left of the bolt) -Make sure you don't breath in zinc fumes, and have a fan blowing it away from you. I also think i heard something about copper and a couple of other metals as well. This is all stuff I've learned the hard way so far, except for the backblast, and zinc fumes. Hope someone gets some use out of it. BTW? I've heard someone talking about making a cave in the firepot on another post. What are they talking about(Pictures please)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solano Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Hi folks, I am new to this and wonder where a source for good coal (metalurgical grade) is in eastern OH as I travel back there on occasion. Thanks for the forum as I learn alot from ya'll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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