Coal, Charcoal, Wood Forge Build

[JHCC]

Suggestion, since we know you have wood to burn: build a separate wood fire (in your 55 gal drum or something) and transfer the burning coals into the forge as needed.

[ryancrowe92]

Problem with that I converted the durm into the forge and that's not the only problem

If I could get the wood into smaller pieces that will fit in the forge it might be plausible

Another problem I'm running out of wood, also the burning down part takes longer to do than my forge burns and I've lost 2 shovles to the fire more or less the handle

I think I have found a new supplier on Craigslist. .50 cents a pound bitounimous

[JHCC]

1 minute ago, ryancrowe92 said:

Problem with that I converted the durm into the forge

Doesn't have to be a drum; any fire will do, as long as it's of sufficient size. 

2 minutes ago, ryancrowe92 said:

If I could get the wood into smaller pieces that will fit in the forge it might be plausible

They have these wonderful things called "axes".

2 minutes ago, ryancrowe92 said:

Another problem I'm running out of wood,

Go around to construction sites and ask if you can have their scrap lumber. Many contractors are happy to have you take that stuff away, as it saves them haulage and disposal fees. This is also the time of year that a lot of people are cleaning up around their houses and are getting rid of brush and tree limbs. Everything you need is out there; you just have to open your eyes and look.

4 minutes ago, ryancrowe92 said:

I've lost 2 shovles to the fire more or less the handle

The trick is to not leave the shovel in the fire.

 

[ryancrowe92]

I have an axe but it lacks the precision and consumes too much time for one piece of wood I'm using slabs I need them to fit in the brake rotor it runs out of fuel in the bowl and I can't get any back in.

Construction site you realize that I live in the middle of nowhere my dad owns a portable sawmill we use wood for heat but I use mostly pine slabs

And I don't leave the shovel in the fire but thoes fiberglass handles wear over time in the fire quickly

[JHCC]

Slabs in a brake rotor is a recipe for failure; don't even bother. 

If you have a good supply of pine slabs, then you definitely need to go with a separate fire and moving the coals with a shovel. If your shovel doesn't have a handle, make a new one from a tree branch. You're just moving coals; it doesn't have to be strong enough to withstand digging in heavy clay.

There is a simple way to use what you have to good effect. You have everything you need to succeed; the only thing standing in your way is YOU.

The question you have to ask yourself is, Am I willing to do what will work? Or am I going to keep trying to do something that isn't going to work (or isn't going to work well) because that's the way that I think I should do it?

[ryancrowe92]

That was what I was doing to begin with then Thomas told me to light it in the forge I cut the slabs into strips I'll make a video and post it on YouTube I finnaly have a channel up now Backyard Ironworks. No public videos yet but ill show how I run things.

[ryancrowe92]

I might be buying from them after all we found a dealer in NC and that company sends it to where I buy my tools from sometimes so I'm getting as much as I can.

[ThomasPowers]

Wow if you could only find someone who wants to work with metal to rivet a steel bar or pipe to a shovel head to make one that doesn't degrade fast with heat...

[ryancrowe92]

I would but I don't have the oh wait I just bought some 1 inch conduit but wait its galvanized.

We came to a conclusion I buy from this dealer and it's 250 for 500 lbs

[Daswulf]

You haven't found out that soaking metal that's galvanized in vinegar will remove the galvanized coating yet in all the reading you have done on the forum? Man I think it's posted on here a couple thousand times in all kinds of places. 

Are you reading anything on here other then the threads you posted? 

 

Before you say you don't have anything big enough to fit the whole pipe in, you only need to remove the galvy from where you are welding and a little back from what will be in the fire if you happen to leave it get that hot ( Which You Shouldn't !) 

[ryancrowe92]

Yeah but I don't have a tank to soak the steel in .

[Daswulf]

Whole lot of " yeah, but I don't have...." Or "yeah but I can't ...) 

blacksmithing is about making things , figuring out what Can work and scrounging helps a lot.  Look around! Find a solution. Got a bucket? A larger pipe that one will fit in where you can plug one end? A trough that you can lay atleast the end portion in and support the opposite side? 

 

[JHCC]

Put it in a trash bag, add vinegar, squeeze out the air, duct tape it shut. Be creative!

[Daswulf]

Even simpler, an old milk jug or bottle? 

There you go? JHCC for the simplest solution...

[ryancrowe92]

Making things when you don't have the right kind of scrap metal is kind of difficult I would love to make an new belt grinder I would also love to build a power hammer but I lack framing materials

I'm about 6ft 5 in so I'm gonna need at least 5 ft of tubing and I don't know how many bags that is gonna take but  I think I have my negotiations in order and I'm gonna save for 500 lbs of coal for $250 and problem solved

The problem is that I don't have steel i don't have the right kind and if I do it's my dad's and he's probably using it for something.

I have all of the main components of a hydraulic press, power hammer, but lack framing materials and it's expensive

[ThomasPowers]

Your doing it wrong:  I'm 5'9" and my hot ember shovel is about 2' long and I built it completely from scrap I scrounged.  You don't need to build a bonfire; just one about the size to cook on.

Lay a plastic bag over some scrap wood making a trough to put the vinegar in.  Or dig a trough in the ground and lining with a plastic bag.  Though I'm really beginning to think that smithing may not be a good fit with you.  And I'm with the group that thinks if you get hot enough to cause problems with the galvanization you are doing it wrong.  I'd flatten the end and drill a couple of rivet holes and use 16 penny nails cut down as rivets and skip welding! Pity you can spend US$250 dollars on coal but can't buy any metal from your dad....

I had a student who figured a way to run a forge while he was living in a college dorm---whole lot harder to manage than making/running a forge in a rural area!

You are getting into the "yes; but"s  I've learned that after a few times trying to help folks who always have a reason NOT to be able to do something it's a better use of my time to briefly commiserate with them about the injustices of life and then go on to try to help folks where a few suggestions on how to do things is like turning the afterburner on in a jet plane VROOOOOOM! and away they go!

If you really want to do it; you can figure it out; shoot I've helped a thalidomide guy forge before and he had a LOT more physical issues than you have!  (His girlfriend stopped by later and told me how excited he was---everyone else wanted to "protect" him from doing dangerous things and I was "lets see how we can do this".  She didn't even complain about holes in his clothing where the leather apron didn't cover...)

It's terrible that life is so hard; perhaps when you are older and on your own it will be easier for you to figure a way to get forging...write if you find work.

 

[Daswulf]

4 hours ago, ryancrowe92 said:

I'm about 6ft 5 in so I'm gonna need at least 5 ft of tubing and I don't know how many bags that is gonna take

So you missed the part where I said you only need to remove the galvanized coating on maybe the first foot of the pipe? Ugh.... 

We are not talking about power hammers or belt grinders here buddy. We are talking BASICS! A functional forge, making/ using fuel... 

[ryancrowe92]

I'm talking about the length of the pipe and the reality of using trashbags. I know what 3 ft is and I'm saying that I'm gonna need at least that and removing the coating from 3ft of pipe is just agrvating when I can use coal cause I'm getting tired with wood.

Now I can send 250 on steel but here is my reverse ask what good is it when you can't get your metal hot that's why I haven't bought bar stock yet and tooling is expensive. I'm on a low budget you know how long it's gonna take me to aqurie the funds to buy the coal 3 or four weeks if I don't dip in my savings.

I've been looking for cheaper alternatives. I've done research.

[Frosty]

The REALITY of using trash bags? The reality is you're a kid who spends 10x as much time thinking up plausible to YOU excuses as it'd take to do what you claim to want to. You are your own worst enemy for doing this right, people have been doing this for thousands of years.  You're just trying random things, mixing and matching stuff you don't understand. No wonder your Father and Grandfather don't want you messing with things, you ignore advice or directions and make excuses for everything. When things don't work of course the reason is something you lack, not that YOU only made a half donkey effort.

I don't think you're a bad or dumb kid you just need to grow up. There is only ONE reason you aren't forging beautiful, marketable things, you can't apply yourself. Were you my kid I'd buy you an old car and tell you you could get your driver's license when you got it running and street legal. You could work on it AFTER your homework and chores are done correctly and buy your own parts. It'd be a long time before I had to worry about what you did to my auto insurance premiums. I used to drive my Father nuts, wild schemes, messing with everything and accomplishing virtually nothing. We aren't that much different at your age, honest I'd want to slap myself silly every time I opened my mouth.

I'm amazed so many of the gang still try helping you,  Seriously, what's today's excuse? You can't build a fire and blow on it! Give us a break, that has to be the worst excuse I've ever heard, I was getting in trouble at 8 for melting things in fires in the back yard with an old hair drier, no blast pipe, no forge, nothing but wood on flat ground and an air blast. Literally romper room simple. 

Sorry for the rant guys, this is the main reason I had to stop responding to Ryan's HEY looky ME! posts. I'll leave him to you, good luck.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[ryancrowe92]

WeWell I'm gonna take a break mabye make a video and show you some things

41 minutes ago, Frosty said:

You can't build a fire

I can do that but I'm running out of fuel if you are still with everything.

 

41 minutes ago, Frosty said:

No wonder your Father and Grandfather don't want you messing with things,

That is because he is going to use it for something else.

You know what I am going to make that video or get that other forge. I haven't shown my drift pin I've been making I haven't exactly been sitting and doing nothing but I currently have to get all my metal from lawnmowers that's how I made my hot cutter which works BTW and my drift pin I still have to make my hammer drift but I've been doing something so don't go telling me im making excuses I said that I have a problem  I'm running out of wood and I've been looking for a cheap coal substitute.  I'm not trying to start a fight but I'm just saying I have a problem and your telling me to go back to doing something I've already been doing what you told me to stop doing now your telling me to do again. It doesn't make sense.

I would be making hammers but my forge is still in the shop and I'm using the old one right now so let all calm down and get focused. I don't like to fight that just not who I am I don't like offering people. So calm

41 minutes ago, Frosty said:

, I was getting in trouble at 8 for melting things in fires in the back yard with an old hair drier, no blast pipe, no forge, nothing but wood on flat ground and an air blast. Literally romper room simple. 

Me and my brother at that time were getting in trouble for crashing our dad's truck in the ditch. And we were young then I was more of an indoor person back then I didn't get out as much as I do now. So we're not that different.

 

43 minutes ago, Frosty said:

I'm amazed so many of the gang still try helping you, 

Gang so are y'all like the only people who post on here not to be offending in any way but it seems like every time I start a new thread y'all reply every now and then someone new comes along.

So just wait about 5 pm and I should have the video up so I'll show you my setup might even fire up the old forge and show you how difficult it is to keep fuel in the bowl. So chill  I will post a link later

[Charles R. Stevens]

Blind leading the blind, just what you tube needs.

Das Is referring to the folks you know what they are doing and go out of their way to help the new guys.  

Dang it, drawn in again...

[ryancrowe92]

How you been Charles nice too see you. Guys the video is uploading I will send link later

[Glenn]

Ryan, having read the thread, my suggestion is to choose one KNOWN fuel that is available and cheap. Wood, as you have a saw mill handy. (All the saw mills I have seen product drops, ends, or pieces of wood that are considered trash.)  Build a forge to use that fuel and learn to make it work for you. By that, I mean concentrate on wood as a fuel, no other fuel involved.  Build or modify your forge as needed.

Once the fuel and forge is in hand and working, choose ONE additional problem and, at the exclusion of all else, solve that one problem. 

We are having difficulty keeping up as you are asking multiple questions at the same time, and as the answers are provided, asking more questions on different subjects, without solving anything. 

 

The problem with your source for coal is that you lack the experience to know what quality of coal that you can use and what you should avoid. You can always spend money, What you want to do is invest your money wisely and get a good return for the money invested. 

A power hammer will do you little good until you learn how the metal moves under a hand hammer. Once you know how the metal moves, you can progress to the next level. 

 

[Daswulf]

2 hours ago, ryancrowe92 said:

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

 

I can do that but I'm running out of fuel if you are still with everything

Oh, don't you worry about Us. We have been reading things and understand more then you realize. We can build a small fire on the ground and find the simplest of ways with almost any kind of household junk to give it air to be able to forge with it. We have been Trying to get you to understand how simple it can be. 

 

As far as running out of wood, you claim to be in the middle of nowhere. Take a walk in the woods and pick up fallen branches and limbs. 

 

We kept starting at the beginning because you are Not listening and keep jumping around to different things as soon as you give one half attempt at what we are trying to explain and show you. If you don't work at One Thing till you get that right and jump to some other idea of your own you will never Never get anywhere. 

You are chasing off everyone wanting to help you through changing subjects, not following instruction, making excuses why you can't or don't have, and generally blowing us off and saying you are not  

We Must be insane to keep trying to help you.  

No one else posts because they realize you don't listen, research on your own or follow what we are telling you so they are not going to waste their time when you didn't listen to anyone else for the last I don't know how many threads or posts now. Who else would YOU like to come post here to tell you the same info? It's always the same info because the reality of what works DOES NOT CHANGE! If it isn't working for you then YOU ARE NOT DOING IT RIGHT! 

The people trying to help don't need to listen to you, you need to thuroughly listen to them and follow step by step. Then you can always ask for clarification on what we said if you do not understand it. 

You DO need to be specific in your questions and specific in your answers and statements. Which you are very vague to the point we don't know what you are referring to or you change the subject at hand. 

 

I feel you are just playing here. You are Not serious. If you are then you will start at the beginning of our advice to you in your first thread and then re read this one and study carefully what we have said and shown you and the threads we have posted. I'll be back If I see you are serious and have followed advice and have a real question beyond excuses. 

Best of luck to you. 

 

 

[Marc1]

I only now realise that Ryan's avatar is the picture of two lads. Until now I saw a face with a large nose and a moustache. Strange ...  

Yes, life is not the internet, real life that is. The internet is for communication, real life is what you can touch and see and not on a screen. Making things, building, inventing, creating, are all part of real life. one can chose to share those things on the internet sometimes. Or not. 

I say, find you niche and enjoy it. You can share it afterwards or not, does not matter. The only thing that matters is what you do, not what you say.