Jack-O-Lantern Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Has anybody tried this? Thin menards Firebrick cut to shape. They're in a centaur forge coal firepot. I wanna use the v shape as a wood forge. I chopped up some 1" thick branches into 3" or so long pieces. I'm out of coal so I thought I'd give this a shot. I've used a trench in a firepit with big branches, but never small wood chunks in a coal forge. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 What are the bricks for? I think it would work better without them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Trying to mimic the ones being sold probably. (of course I think the ones being sold are a bad design so copying it would not be the way to go IMNSHO!) With charcoal you may want to narrow things down. With wood you need to have enough converting to charcoal to keep ahead of your forging needs. Burning your wood someplace else and just moving the hot coals over is A WHOLE LOT BETTER, as you keep the extra smoke and thrown off heat away from you while you are forging. (You may note that cultures still forging with charcoal do NOT burn wood in their forges to get it; perhaps over 3000 years of experimentation has come up with a few things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackdawg Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 how you describe using your wood is exactly how I use mine. Works well. I'd get rid of the bricks, you need a bit of depth with the wood fire. It burns quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-O-Lantern Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 18 hours ago, C-1ToolSteel said: What are the bricks for? I think it would work better without them. They make a v shape that collects burning coal from the wood fire. The coal collects in the valley as the wood burns. If the fire is more spread out in the larger firepot shape; then the hottest coals in the bottom spread out. The v helps collect and concentrate the hot coals via gravity. 18 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: Trying to mimic the ones being sold probably. (of course I think the ones being sold are a bad design so copying it would not be the way to go IMNSHO!) With charcoal you may want to narrow things down. With wood you need to have enough converting to charcoal to keep ahead of your forging needs. Burning your wood someplace else and just moving the hot coals over is A WHOLE LOT BETTER, as you keep the extra smoke and thrown off heat away from you while you are forging. (You may note that cultures still forging with charcoal do NOT burn wood in their forges to get it; perhaps over 3000 years of experimentation has come up with a few things... I'd make charcoal if I could. I'm totally copying a design. I've tried it with flag stone in a bon fire with a horizontal pipe with holes drilled in it. It works. I made this The same v shape with charcoal heated a 1 1/4" inch piece faster than just burning charcoal in a fire pot. It used alot less fuel as well. If I could I'd bring my bonfire closer to my anvil but, it's about a 70 foot walk. Maybe I could use a cheapo fire pit on wheels. Hmmm....... 16 hours ago, Jackdawg said: how you describe using your wood is exactly how I use mine. Works well. I'd get rid of the bricks, you need a bit of depth with the wood fire. It burns quick. Cool. I thought they would be too small. The v goes down the the clinker breaker. So I think it'll work...I hope it will work. If it does I'll post results. The v design helped manage charcoal really well. It also used way less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 One issue is that to get a reducing fire with charcoal for things like bladesmithing you need a good depth of fire and most of the V forges I have seen do not support that. As I do a bit of bladesmithing and pattern welding I want higher walls and so often build a U shaped fire rather than a V when I use charcoal. When I make my own I used a raised firepit close by and built a shovel out of gravel screen so I go to the fire, get a bunch of coals and shake the shovel letting ashes and too small bits drop back into the raised firepit and then just dump good coals into the forge. (also gives onlookers a place to keep warm in the winter rather than pushing up too close to the forge!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack-O-Lantern Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 Good idea Thomas. I think I'll make a screen shovel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnBello Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 There is a thread that has a very easy way to make charcoal which doesn't require much skill or space, which you might find useful: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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