You have a much better way with words than me frosty

All to often we get impatient and try to get the steel to heat to fast, we don't need welding heat for most work, and a good soak at yellow or high orange is much beter for heating the stock evenly and thoraly. 

Charcoal works well with a 3/4-1" tuyere. 3/4" schedule 40 is a out 7/8" ID. I find that 4" above the tuyere is good for the top and a bowl 6-8" across works well. Watch your air, to much cools the stock and eats threw fuel. For large chunks you need patience and/ or multiple tuyeres to make a longer/larger fire. Trench fires like the neo smiths use use a pipe with holes drilled in it, effectively multiple tyrere. 

I use fire brick on top of the forge table to bank coals against, so I can maintained a smaller fire, or to shape the fire to more effecently heat the stock. Yes, the bricks get melty.

i spent some time looking at traveling forges, African ant mound forges, Asian trench forges and Viking forges befor Storting to experiment myself. My faverit uses a large two stage hand inflatable pump and a 3/4" ID tuyere, I don't burn up much stock with it, lol

 

On 5/27/2017 at 1:02 AM, Jasent said:

Thanks frosty. Stupid simple is my style

My forge is stupid simple it took 30 mins to make and does that sparks mean I was reaching welding temps?

20170627_120340.mp4

The video won't play for me

I have followed the few tricks you guys gave me and I'm having a much better time heating my stock. I actually made very few changes to my forge.

Boedie32,

I have watched your short video and it looks hot to me! I am pretty sure those sparks meant that the temperature was high enough for forge welding.
I believe those sparks indicate temperatures too hot for steel with a higher carbon content.

I was taught that the idea was to get good enough to weld *before* you see sparks.

(some folks are a lot better at that than others; I've seen Billy Merritt weld at temps I'd consider cool for forging at!)