Chuckbuckeye Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Hey everyone . I have recently started blacksmithing and made my own forge . I went and bought 50 lbs of coal off of eBay . It’s the bitimus coal or howerver you spell it . So I have had 3 fires in it . Today I had it going for about 4 hours . I’ve burned through 25 lbs in no time at all. I’m just wondering if this is normal or am I doing something wrong . My air is a make shift fan that I built but it’s not variable speed yet . So it kinda just blows constantly . While it gets real hot I’m going through what I think is too much coal . Any help or ideas will be appreciated ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Got pictures/ good description of the forge and blower? We don't know enough details to fully help. One problem Is running the blower constant and unregulated. There are several ways to restrict the air to the forge. And or if it Can be variable speed. Running full on constantly Will eat up coal. Especially soft bituminous coal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobS Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Turn the blower off when you're not at the forge. Turn the air down unless you need higher heats. Use smaller fires unless you need it. Hard to say what the solution is without seeing it and what your doing with it. If your forge welding billet after billet the coal usage may be normal. If your heating small hooks, knife blades ect. then you're using way more coal than needed. Heads up on cost. Most blacksmith groups have an inside scoop on where to get coal. A 50lbs bag cost about $8-10 outside of ebay. Even less if you can buy in bulk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckbuckeye Posted November 5, 2018 Author Share Posted November 5, 2018 Thanks guys I don’t have a good pic of the blower of my forge as it’s not exactly pretty . Lol I’m an electrician by trade so I made something work. Lol and it works but really ugly . Anyways yeah I haven’t had any luck finding coal in Northern Indiana except for Tractor supply co Everything I’ve read says to use bitimus . Well I know now that I can use anthracite . And it’s way cheaper at TSC. I wish I knew someone near me that blacksmiths and could point me in the right direction but I’m hoping to join the Indiana blacksmith association soon . Sounds like my air is really eating the coal and will have to get a new blower . Think I can find one for a decent price been eyeing some on graingers website . I’ll be back out there tomorrow . I had a request for bottle openers so I’m going to attempt that after I make a center punch hopefully . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobS Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 You may not need a new blower. You just need a blast gate or similar to close/reduce/redirect air flow when needed. You need air management. Any blower you buy will need the same air management. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckbuckeye Posted November 5, 2018 Author Share Posted November 5, 2018 Good point . I’d like a variable speed motor but a waste gate or something similar would work too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 As a stop gap measure, just open the ash dump to bleed off the air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 If your forge is "really ugly" thats exactly why you Should get pictures and Show us! We wont make fun ofyou for an ugly forge. But we CAN help you improve a poor or unsafe design. Building a forge isn't about money into it, It's about what works or not. And safety is up on the list of what Works, since ya cant forge if you're dead. Still not enough info to really help. And believe me, for some weird reason, some of us really want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Here is the thread on building the forge. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/60351-built-my-first-forge-have-a-few-questions/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Even in that we haven't seen the new setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevomiller Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Yep, either choke air into the blower, block air out of the blower, or divert some of the air out of the blower (as Irondragon said by open your ash dump), and as Rob says turn your air OFF when not actively taking a heat. Be careful with varying the blower speed, some motors will fail prematurely depending on how you do it. Also as guy said shows us your setup, including it with a typical fire in it. Everybody here will help you out and get you running efficiently. Honestly what you describe is one of the biggest issues new smiths have if they haven’t had the opportunity to spend time with someone knowledgeable: they big too big of fires, they use too much air blast, and therefor burn more fuel than needed. And for all the fuel burnt and spread out fires, the fire also often aren’t deep enough so are less efficient and scale up the work badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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