So I did some searching to find the answer but I cannot seem to find one. 

How do you put out your coal forge once your done? I have seen pull the coal out and put it in water, cover it, put water directly on the coal while in the forge. Are these all acceptable >?

Currently I separate the coal/coke from the un-burnt coal and let it go out. Takes forever.

 Thanks

Depends a lot on your coal.  Some coal will go out fast if you just stop the air; other needs to be raked apart.  If you have an old cast iron forge I would not advise pouring water on it in large amounts.  If your forge is clayed ditto.  For my steel forge I usually dump a couple of ladles on the center of the fire and then go around the outside edges.  Coke tends to go out easier than burning coal. If I have to kill the fire fast---like at a demo--- shoveling into a steel bucket of water works fast.  So *YES*!

I rake the livliest coals out onto the forge table. I use a Champion Whirlwind Cast Iron Firepot, so I don't want it ruined. It wastes a little bit of coal becuase it still burns down, but its maybe 1/2lbs if that that turns into ash. Granted, my coal doesn't have an issue with clinkers, so I don't need to fish them out from the bottom. 

Ok thank you all, my forge is home made. the container is cast and is clayed in. So I will continue to pull the coals out and let them cool down..

Thanks again

I have a steel plate for my table, cast iron firepot.  I rake my burning coal out onto the table and let it sit for a few minutes.  If it doesn't go out pretty soon, I have a bean can with nail holes in it.  I just sprinkle water over the places that are burning and they go out quickly.  I never put water on the cast iron.

I rake the fire out of the forge and put it in a 5 gallon bucket of water.  Next day I stir the water to recover the coal and coke as it floats, while the ash and clinker sinks. Spread it out and a day or so and it is dry.

I sleep very well at night knowing that everything that was hot is now under at least 2 inches of water. Remember to empty the ash tube.

Thank you for the posts.

We had a guy at a class put out coals in the pan with water, he bumped the blower handle and still had some hot coals. In the end he blew up and shredded the air hose they were using.

 

Would scraping the unburnt coal away from the coke and then putting a empty upturned steel bucket/drum over the fire pot area work ?

I know you would need a largish steel bucket but I would think that the smoke would accumulate and choke the fire 

but if you are in a high fire danger area or a timber shop witch seems the norm do what glen does and sleep safe 

fergy

 

Coke goes out by it self.  I use a sprinkler can to damp the coal down.  Spread out the residual heat usually dries the coal.  Maybe half an hour and all is safe.

We had a guy at a class put out coals in the pan with water, he bumped the blower handle and still had some hot coals. In the end he blew up and shredded the air hose they were using.

 

He blew up?  What?  Into pieces?  I'd like this story to be fleshed out a little.

Thanks all; I am a little concerned since the forge is in a wood building. I put concrete backer board around the forge itself. The forge is cast metal (home made one) and homemade clay. I think the bucket with water or just a bucket and remove the coal from the building is the way for me. Thank you again.

On the completely opposite hand, if you want to take a lunch break without restarting everything, you can also turn the air completely off and bank the fire under green coal. You come back to a little more coke than when you left, and just turn up the air to restart.

Of course, getting it right takes a couple of times, and I'd only do it if I was very, very sure that it wouldn't be going elsewhere if it flared up unattended for some reason. Probably not a good idea for overnight either. Safety first....safety third.....safety somewhere in there.

Also a good time to get the cooled clinker out if you can do it without killing the fire. (or ya could do it before banking).

Running steam over hot coke can be a method of making "producer gas". Such heavier than air gasses tend to collect in low spots. Also there is often a path for them to follow out the air handling equipment.  So if you have a bellows or blower full of flammable gasses and you feet it back into the fire it tends to go off, often with a BANG.  Known cases of destroying bellows are recorded.  Keeping the air on while wetting a fire can prevent it from pooling the gasses.

Great information thank you

Producer/brown gas is another reason you see bellows and blowers mounted higher than the fire pot.

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited August 26, 201510 yr by Frosty

Also why check valves are a good idea on bellows---and checking that the check valves are working.

I've been watching the thread about making and carburizing steel and you've gotten into the subject of using CO in the process. So why not use a puddling furnace rather than a bloomery? Yeah, I know I should post this to THAT thread but I'm thinking of it now.

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited August 26, 201510 yr by Frosty

It depend upon yor setup as others have pointed out. I keep my exhaust fan running, stop the blast fan and rake out the burning stuff from the cast iron firepot onto the steel plate table. I then potter around putting tools back to where they belong and generally tidy up. When this is done, the fire is so cool that I stop the exhaust fan. When raking, I usually have a doughnut of klinker around the tuyere. I fish that out with the rake and drop into a metal bucket.

A coal/charcoal fire does not throw sparks around when the blast is off and I have nothing flammable in the immediate vicinity so there is no NEED to put out the fire except for saving on fuel.  

Göte

Running steam over hot coke can be a method of making "producer gas". Such heavier than air gasses tend to collect in low spots. Also there is often a path for them to follow out the air handling equipment.  So if you have a bellows or blower full of flammable gasses and you feet it back into the fire it tends to go off, often with a BANG.  Known cases of destroying bellows are recorded.  Keeping the air on while wetting a fire can prevent it from pooling the gasses.

This happened to me once or twice when I was in my teens; fortunately, I was forging outside.

at the class they teach us to pull the coals out and dowse with water. This guy left his hot coals down in the fire pot and sprinkled water. This made the above gas down down in the air tube. When he bumped the blower(and old Champion 400 hand crank)it sent the gas back into the hot coals. We had 7 forges and students banging away and everyone stopped when that bang happened. That sound was deafening. The air vent was dryer vent tubing 4 foot long and was shredded from one end to the other. Dude was scared witless but otherwise alright.

Edited August 28, 201510 yr by Animosh

Food for thought; if the forge does not explode or burn down the building while you are pushing air through a bed of burning coke and reaching upwards of 3,500°F while you are standing directly next to it....what makes one so afraid of this occurring while you have left the building?

In other words, why examine all the available options to put out the fire as quickly and effectively as possible? What happens when you all turn your back on the forge fire?

Because one is responsible for it even when one is not there watching it---the old Irish Brehon law was you were responsible for 3 days after you left a fire.  So if a squirrel knocks over a can of oil that ends up dripping into the forge you want to just cuss the mess and not the loss of shop/barn/house/?  (or if kids can access the area!)

I suppose.

I lock the door and walk away. My forge fire has never done anything other than die out. In my situation there is no oil or anything combustible next to the forge while I am there, so safe to say it is the same when I leave.

 

Good, my solid fuel forge building has open eves and so I have birds and other critters with access, (got to watch out for rattlesnakes in the scrap pile.) As we also get very strong winds---as in sustained 80 mph at times, I will modify my shutdown procedures to suit the situation so at demos it's OUT OUT OUT water dripping from the ash dump OUT!