Charcoal starter / forge Calgary, AB

[skinard]

 

Hello,

I’m a Newb and was playing on building a coal forge.  I’d like to get into knife making.  Small stuff under 10 inches.   The main purpose or though behind what I’m trying to build is a really fast charcoal starter for bbqing, then a forge second.  I BBQ multiple times a week and one weekends sometimes three times a day and only use lump charcoal atm.  Using chimneys and the random stuff I’ve seen at the bbq store don’t work or are consumable and get pricey when you bbq almost every day in the summer.  I also bbq a lots in the winter and I’m in Alberta so the winter adds to the time required to get everything up and running. 

 

 I was planning on was using an old Charbroil barrel bbq.  And insulate the inside with a refractory material. Then use a little metal rake to stir the charcoal. Once the charcoal is started ill transfer it to the normal bbq.   Is there anything preventing a set up like this to start charcoal? or preventing it from functioning as a forge, or maybe fumes that are added that someone shouldn’t ingest.   

 

 

This is kind of what i was thinking.   Any input is appreciated . and i'm sorry if this is in the wrong section.

 

Edited May 11, 2015 by skinard

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Grill Master guy, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance.

I'm not clear on the charbroil barrel's purpose. Are you going to cook in it or are you just using it to light the charcoal?

Just lighting charcoal is really fast and easy with a little air blast. I light our wood stove by raking the remaining charcoal from the corners over a ball of paper or cardboard in front of the air draft. It takes the stove a little bit, under a minute to start drawing but once it does the paper takes off and the charcoal is lit. In a short time the entire pile is burning, say ready for steaks were I cooking over it.

I've lit the BBQ in the yard with a blow drier and even briquettes are ready to cook in a minute or so.

Are you thinking about using the chargrill as a forge? I'm thinking that's too large for a forge. You can't work much more than 4-6" at a time on the anvil except to twist or bend. You need a pretty intense fire to heat steel to a good working temperature and a barrel full of charcoal that hot is going to be too hot to get close to and burn WAY more charcoal than you'll use for forging. It'd be like having a couple gasoline blow torches for head lights on the family car. it'll burn a lot more fuel than is useful. (Yeah, extreme metaphor but it's ME writing eh?)

If you're wanting something to light charcoal quickly then a simple unplated steel can or bucket with an air grate in the bottom and a port to take a hair drier under it will light 5gl. worth of charcoal in maybe a minute using news paper or a little cardboard box for kindling.

Frosty The Lucky.

[skinard]

If i can get the grills back on i might use it to sear big roasts then move them to a low and slow set up.  Ive used a hair dryer as well i just found it more awkward holding everything.  If the general idea works then i'll end up making two set ups a small forge for forging.  and I'll convert the charbroil into a insulated bbq like a big green egg turned sideways that starts charcoal really fast as well helping with cold weather grilling.   You have been very helpful.  i've seen youtube vids of people using plaster of paris and sand as there insulation.  if insulation is being used would you stick with refractory specific material or does plaster of paris and sand work.

 

Thank you,

[Frosty]

I didn't see the drawing when I made my last reply. That will work better as a forge though still probably way big. I don't see anything unworkable about your plans so far. Sure there are better ways to do all that stuff but this is a fair start. Blacksmithing isn't about perfection it's about good enough.

Ever bake bread in the smoker/grill? A little smoke flavor in the bread is very tasty. Wrapping Poppin Fresh crescent or pizza dough around hot dogs to toast over a fire is a real hit. When I was a field guy I used to make up a fast rising bread dough to bake at the camp fire.

I'll grill anything. Believe it or not most Campbells soups take up smoke flavor heated over a fire. Smoked food is gooooood.

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Frosty

[skinard]

Agreed.  i bbq/smoke everything i can.  i don't like cooking inside so anything i can cook inside i try and do over charcoal.  I'm a big fan of bbq'd focaccia bread with jalapenos.

Thank you for you input.  Looking at other posts, you're a very helpful popular dude.  The drawing was a 60 second paint masterpiece so the proportions are a little off. I'll make the pit part as small as i can get away with and change the angles up slightly.  I'll go with something like this so i can push or pull charcoal as required.  

[ThomasPowers]

old fashioned hand crank blower can light charcoal in an amazing short time.

[skinard]

I was looking for one originally but couldn't find one locally, so i ordered one online that rattled and arrived broken.  The bbq store i use has bellows but the cheapest one was $90.00.

[Charles R. Stevens]

This is one if those cases of having a good forge or a good barbeque, not both. Easer to just find an old sink, box, oil drum or other to build a forge, using clay rich soil is all the refractory you need

as to cooking and forging in the same spot, my answer is a pile of fire brick, a  grill proped up on a few bricks set on a table coverd by bricks, fast and versital cooking serface, not a smoker/ oven but a "cook top" same pile of bricks can be configerd so you can pile up charcoal and poke a tweer in there (a gap between bricks and a hair dryer) 

[ThomasPowers]

Wow I once built a bellows to run a forge with for under a dollar; scrounged everything but a handful of roofing nails. If you are worried about cost why were you looking at an expensive place? Wood was a scrap piece of 2x4 and a junked printer cabinet I fished out of a dumpster---printer cabinet had a piano hinge on it I used too.  "leathers" was finest naugahyde from a junked recliner. nozzle was a piece of scrapped pipe.  Naugahyde was attached to the edges of the boards with roofing nails through pallet strapping.  Made it over 12 years ago and it's still working...