Kardall Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 So, I have been working in my forge a little bit, getting used to it, and my dad asked me to try to bend/curl the ends of some angle iron for him. I tried, and I found out that the actual firepot was so small I could barely heat up 2" of material at a time, in fact most of the heat was in about a 1" area and tapered off. Attempting to figure out what is going on, I will try to explain it without pictures. When I light the forge, I am using a ball of medium crumpled paper, and putting small pieces of coal on it to light. Once it gets going, I have an orange spot about 4", which is about the same size as the hole where the air comes up. My first thought was, how do I increase the diameter of the hot spot. Does it have to do with heat escaping out the top before it can heat up the surrounding coal? Is it because I am maybe burning the coal too fast, and it doesn't have enough time to catch the surrounding coal on fire before it burns away? I have no idea Some insight would be helpful. I would like to be able to work on an area around 3" - 4" at a time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickOHH Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Sounds like you may just need to pile on some more coal, it wants to burn. How wide x how deep is the fire pot? Bottom or side blast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Tend to agree with Nick (dont tell him tho...) more fuel and air, unlike charcoal you can have a thick bed of fuel and keep the fire ball contained. But ass my primary experiance is with charcoal I'll describe it from that. A bowl, say 3-4" deap with the tuyere in the middle (3/4" will work, but most are 2" with a grate (a 1/2" bare bent in a "Z" works) with a mound of fuel 3-4" deap on top of it adjust the air to produce a hot spot right at or above the table hight. Now as coal is a bit more coaperitive, and you need to coke it, pile grean coal around the sides, and pull some up the sides to coak and insulate the ball. Clear as mud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kardall Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Hmm, I will have to measure for sure, but I am pretty sure that the depth is only around 2" and the tuyere is in the middle blowing up. I can't stack the coal that high and have a level insertion point without losing the ability to rest the work piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickOHH Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 That's not very deep, can you use a brick in the edge of the forge or rig up a stand to hold it then you could pile it higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Stack brick around the fire pot so you can build it larger and deeper. You do have a table or pan don't you? Trying to work in a forge a few inches across is just too hard to pull off. It doesn't need to be fancy or olde timey just something to hold a bank of coal, some tools and rest your work on. As a kid I used an old washing machine door upside down with a hole to hold a brake drum and rammed hard with adobe clay to the level of the drum rim. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kardall Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 It's 2" Deep, but the forge itself is around 22" in Diameter. I don't have a table to lay stuff on, have to make that probably in the summer months, it's going to start getting really cold here now (Already snow). But I'll keep firing it up if I can get access to it in the shed. I will try these suggestions this weekend if it's not too windy outside. I will also try to record it with a camcorder this time around, and see if I can't get some video out for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 2" deep is more a duck's nest than a proper fire pot. It's easy enough to use though I prefer a duck's nest. You just arrange bricks around the air grate to provide the size and shape fire you need. 2" deep nest and 2 1/2" thick fire brick gives you a 4 1/2" deep fire. That's plenty workable just make it wide enough to make a heart the right size over the air grate. Okay, here's a good example of one jargon not matching another. What I mean by "heart" is what is commonly being called a "fireball". I also pretty commonly call the right part of the fire the "sweet spot" and it can be different for different processes. Yeah, I know I've probably just confused a simple thing but I don't know how many times I've used non-common terms and if you read other threads by me I'd like you to have this little Rosetta stone thingy. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kardall Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 Nope, I think I have read all those posts LOL cause I recognize all those terms HAHA. I will see what I can do, it's relatively difficult to find the thin bricks around here, but I do have two firebricks from an old forge idea I was going to do. It won't surround it, but maybe I can find something. At any rate, I'll try to livestream some smithing this saturday as long as the weather isn't too bad, and i'll get the video clip saved to post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 in coal forges deeper is usually better than wider. I did my first fluxless weld with a deep coal forge made a farrier friend of mine. 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.