Evening all, from sunny Swansea in the UK. Fired up our small coal forge for the first time today. Enough heat to work coil Spring so very happy with result. However, I'm conscious that we could probably improve the result so all comments welcome.

using a small leaf blower with a variable speed control. Works very well .

Use one half that length of fire and half the width. After that, you may want to build some walls in order to make the fire a bit deeper.

If the leaf blower makes too much air, separate the blower from the air pipe by 3-4 inches and air more directly for more air to the forge, less directly for less air to the forge.

 Move the forge to the door opening or outside to get rid of the smoke. 

Welcome to the site.  Read the thread READ THIS FIRST in order to get the most out of the site.

Welcome to IFI..

Glenn has offered good advice. Don't forget that coal, charcoal and propane give off carbon monoxide and it will kill you. Good ventilation and a hood chimney system goes a long way to keeping everyone safe.

Oh and don't be upset if your first thread is moved to the best sub-forum.

Thanks for the reply . At the moment, although it's under cover its open ventilated both ends so we've got good through flow of fresh air. We're constructing a fixed forge which will have a hood ducted to the outside so hopefully no issue there either, provided the draw is sufficient. Well smoke test and if it's not then we'll adapt it.

My coal forge is just inside the door of my garage, and I have a removable flue on wheels that gets rolled out the door when I'm forging. Great solution for when you can't put in a permanent stack.