Beg pardon if I'm jumpin in out of line, I'm as new at this BBS stuff as I am to smithing. I've already decided on my fuel. I'm gonna use coal, but I can't seem to keep it burning, let alone turn iron colors. My forge is fairly standard with a cast fire pot in the middle of a 2' X 3' fire brick topped table. I'm using a real old Champion 400 blower, that i rebuilt. I started an anthricite coal fire with charcoal. I cranked my arm off and it burned OK until the charcoal was gone. What am I doing wrong? I'll send pictues if it will help

BIG

wow, you might have a choked out air supply maybe? are you using charcoal or coal? Charcoal will burn a little colder and is harder to keep going, but it shouldn't be that bad.
I bet its your airflow, check and see how much is coming out.

RainsFire; charcoal is easier to keep alit than coal; it's coke that takes constant air flow or it will go out in the time you are hammering on a piece. Coke is definitely not cooler either!
Lump Charcoal will get to forge welding temps with no problem---all the pattern welded viking and frankish blades were forged in charcoal fueled forges.

Notw what the problem seems to be is that anthricite is not the preferred coal for smithing. it acts much more like coke, hard to light and hard to keep going. You should try a nice bitumious coal!

Check with the local ABANA chapter on where is a good place to buy it near you.

I always here the compare and contrast of coal VS charcoal I have access to both what should I use rainsfire

The one that works best under YOUR situation. Close neighbors? Size of work you do? What kind of blower you have? What kind of work you are doing. How you react to heat and forge fleas. Which one is cheaper for you? Is it great coal or lousy coal? Design of your forge? (while you can burn charcoal in a coal forge tweaking it to be a charcoal burner will really help the efficiency...size of tuyere holes, airflow, depth of firepot, width of firepot, etc)

Kind of hard to answer a question without knowing the constraints. I started with home made charcoal in a home built forge behind a small house with a small yard in south Oklahoma City back around 1981. Since then I have used everything from a hole in the ground to large commercially built coal forges to both aspirated and blown propane forges built at SOFA workshops. (And I have a Johnson Gas Forge plumbed for natural gas---that we don't have out here)

How big are you lumps of coal? should be about the size of a quarter or smaller. I use
anthricite but break it up

BIG.....usually, charcoal burns up pretty quick in the forge....expecially with a strong blast of air.

Also,some coal is slow to ignite. I've never used anthracite, so I can't judge your coal...but I've heard from others that it's harder to use than bituminous types.

You might try cranking really slow to allow the coal a chance to get hot enough to ignite.

Let us know how it goes.

James

WOW, thanks for the feedback. I thought about the bituminous coal, but we're kind of cramped and I don't want to offend the neighbors too much. Doesn't the soft coal smoke alot more? Not having much experience, I thought I was getting lots of air. I've read Yall talk about fleas. I guessed you were talking about the coal popping free and burning you. I got the fire to do that, but as soon as I quit cranking, it died out. My coal is 3/4" to 1"

This is where electric air (electric blower) is a good thing. You can set the blower to fast and forge, then turn it down to slow and keep the fire going while you hammer.

Fire maintenance will control most of the smoke from bituminous coal by burning it. Just keep a hole in the top of the coal in the forge so it acts like a volcano. It will consume a LOT of the smoke from the fire.

Look at the photos below from BP0390 First Fire at the Forge. The difference is poking a hole in the top of the fire to ignite the smoke. In the second photo you can see the smoke being produced and then how it is ignited and burns with flame. The coal is good bituminous coal that is great for blacksmithing work.

some time ya get coal that has sulpher strings in it- more air will work, i have had good/ bad coal that burnt like a rock but what i had so keep chin up and listen to the more learned on the site, best jimmy

for anthracite, you can burn it with hot air (use residual heat to heat tuyere and therefore the air) which is what the did in 1800s when only anthracite was available to smelt and cast with.
You could also burn corn, works just like coal.
Good luck,
Merry being,
Archie

Archie; was that a local deal as bituminous has been around for centuries other places.