How much coal?????

[KYBOY]

Do you go thru in an average day at the forge? Be it full time or just an evening of fun?

[jayco]

Being a part timer, I seldom get to forge all day, but rather as you say , maybe an hour or so in the evenings.
For me, coal usage can be so variable depending on what I'm forgeing.

Maybe I can explain it this way; This evening, I forged a 1 in. square hardy post....5 in. long.........from larger round stock.(didn't have any 1 inch. square stock for the job)
It took me the better part of an hour........I burned about a gallon of coal I think.

What makes this complicated to figure for me is that there was already some coal around the edge of the forge . I add about a 1 gal. bucket's worth of coal, and ended up with about what I started with in the forge when I was done.
I hope that makes sense!

James

[KYBOY]

Well me too. This evening I hardened a punch, started on a pair of tongs and annealed some old black diamond files to try and scratch a knife or two out of ..You know I didnt even think to pay attention to how much coal I used. I will tomorrow.

[JerryCarroll]

4 to 6 hours of actual forge use uses at least half of the 5 gal. bucket I use for coal by the forge. Like James there is always coke and some coal from the last session. I make a concentrated effort to watch the blower. I have a lever at the front of the forge for adjusting the air flow so as the piece in the fire comes out I just bump the lever down to cut the air.

[HWooldridge]

Wetting your coal seems to make it last longer - at least it does for me, but I am using slack coal (mostly fines) so I don't get a good fire unless the coal is wet and packed around the fire. I start the fire with dry fuel and then add the green coal while continuing to pack from the outside as the fire burns hollow.

I have never measured consumption but a few nights ago, I worked continuously for about 3 hours and the actual usage was perhaps a coffee can's worth of fuel.

[Frosty]

The only times I've used coal enough to even guess at consumption were at fairs and demos.

I prefer to coke my coal at the beginning of the day to get all the smoke out of the way and not upset the spectators.

I start my fire w/ cardboard coil and once I have a good burn going I pile a 5gl bucket's worth on and crank the blower. I poke a hole in the top center to get the smoke to flash over soonest. The sooner there's flame on the outside the sooner the smoke level drops off.

Once the pile is good and stuck together, like warm asphalt, I turn it with a shovel to put the uncoked coal on the bottom.

When the pile is coked to my satisfaction I break it up, spread it out and quench with water.

Doing it this way another smith and I were able to keep the fire going from about 10:00am to 9:00am and not use it all.

Frosty

[dablacksmith]

I have been able to figure it out for a work week (10am to 4 pm 5 days) i use 1 bag of coke (50 lb) average .. that has been over 4 months of forgeing so it is pretty accurate ... it has helped me to figure out how much I need to buy for the season ...

[hammerkid]

Being a part timer, I seldom get to forge all day, but rather as you say , maybe an hour or so in the evenings.
For me, coal usage can be so variable depending on what I'm forgeing.

Maybe I can explain it this way; This evening, I forged a 1 in. square hardy post....5 in. long.........from larger round stock.(didn't have any 1 inch. square stock for the job)
It took me the better part of an hour........I burned about a gallon of coal I think.

What makes this complicated to figure for me is that there was already some coal around the edge of the forge . I add about a 1 gal. bucket's worth of coal, and ended up with about what I started with in the forge when I was done.
I hope that makes sense!
James

Hey James you got any pictures of the hot cut?
back to the subject , for me on saturday of working about 8 hrs its usally a bucket and 1/2 or so depending on what I`am making. on evenings I use about a 1/2 bucket.
Thanks,Chris

[rthibeau]

a full day of forging might use half a 5 gallon bucket of coal....that's using a hand crank blower and a small fire so nothing is really wasted....forging larger material would obviously use a larger fire and more coal.

[jayco]

Hammerkid, I wasn't actually making a hot cut when I made the post, but rather an Irnsrgn style guilotine tool.

But I don't mind posting some pics when I get them! Kinda thought about doing that anyway.

James

[blksmth]

I typically use from 1 ea. 5 gal. pail to 2 ea. 5 gal. pails per full day of general forging. Nevertheless the amount of coal burned per day depends in large part on the pounds of iron being heated and possibly the # of times it is heated. I have heard the sons of the blacksmiths that had general horse shoeing and farm shops, in this town, in the early 1900's, say their fathers began the day by placing a bushel of coal on the forge. That bushel of coal was replaced and added to throughout the day. My forge table is small enough I can comfortably only place about 3 to 4 gal. of green coal on the forge at a time. I try to keep a breeze/coke trough down the middle with only green coal on the right and left side of the fire pot. The Refflinghaus Anvil factory in Germany once used tons of coal per month in 6 forges, and so did the UP Railroad in my town (in the years when they forged). The blacksmith that used to be at the Pioneer Village in Mindon, NE had his coal fire no bigger around than a silver dollar, and he managed to make many small items. He probably didn't use much over a 5 gal. pail of powdered coal in a month of working every day. Therefore I would have to say that for the most part, the amount of coal used equals the size of the objects being heated times the # of hours heating them. Also, a small weak fan/blower will burn less coal and heat less in a given amount of time than a powerful blower. The weak blower, such as a squirrel cage blower, will get the job done, but not as fast, for a given amount of coal. A good radial blower will heat the metal faster allowing for faster work flow, but more coal will be used. Therefore under certain circumstances "time is money"? For a new blacksmith or a hobby smith, a slow burning fire might just be what the doctor ordered. For the blacksmith that is trying to make some money, a hot fast fire just might mean "money".

[Frosty]

I think that's the way to think about it blksmth.

Time to heat per lb = qty coal.

All other things being equal.

Frosty