Hello, I am about to start up my new forge. I was looking for advise on recommended fuel and operation. I have an endless supply of oak. 

 

 

Can you tell us what you want to do with it? How often? Constraints?

The first thing I would do is to line the pan with clay/adobe to build a ducks nest fire pot and check the gears and oil in the blower. Charcoal will work but coal will be better in a bottom blast forge if you have a supply near you. With an endless supply of wood, you can make your own charcoal with a home made retort. There are quite a few threads about that in the fuel section.

You may want to make a trough fire set up  using clay/clayey soil or even the very cheap kitty litters that are clay based.

Which is more valuable to you: time, or money? If you have time, I would second IFC's charcoal-making suggestion.

I also know that Glenn often (exclusively?) forges with wood. I thought about doing the same, but wood forges put out a lot of radiant heat and I'm going to be working in a pretty small space. 

I was a bit more worried that charcoal and wood throw off more sparks and I would think that California may be a bit fire shy right now.

Oh no, making charcoal in California is likely to earn you an unpleasant visit from Forestry.

Frosty The Lucky.

3 hours ago, tjdaggett said:

Which is more valuable to you: time, or money?

Time. I will shop for some coal. 

3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

You may want to make a trough fire set up  using clay/clayey soil or even the very cheap kitty litters that are clay based.

Is there a name for this process that I can search the web to find. 

I am trying to avoid YouTube until I get a bunch of info from this forum. 

4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Can you tell us what you want to do with it? How often? Constraints?

Forge blades to start. Weekend warrior.

Look into the threads on using charcoal as many of them will discuss a trench forge set-up.  However if you are going to coal then a system tweaked to use charcoal best won't be as good for coal.

If this was your forge what fuel would you use?

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

Does anyone have advise on or Can direct me to the correct thread to change out the manual operation to an electric motor for the champion blower.

Charcoal, coal or coke depending on a lot of different factors---like close neighbors; fire danger, availability of good coal or coke, cost of them, what I am doing for that forging session----I have a propane forge and a coal forge set up where I can work from either one or even both. (I like to weld in coal, twist in propane for instance). When I do Y1K demos and can get permission to use it I use charcoal  as smiths were not forging with coal in western Europe until the High/Late Middle ages.

Also the difference between good coal and poor coal for smithing is incredible!  (But historically smiths used what they had available---like cow patties and buffalo dung on the treeless prairies; peat, etc).

What do the other smiths in your region prefer and where do they source it?  Have you contacted the California Blacksmith Association?     https://www.calsmith.org

If you are just getting started; why the heck do you want an electric blower?  You like wasting fuel and steel?  Hand crank is MUCH MUCH easier to learn on. (Unless you have to start with anthracite or coke which needs a continuous blast.)  Then you can build a forge just for billet welding when you get to that stage.

Back in 1981 when I started I made a forge from a shallow farm sink and found an electric blower at the scrapyard.  I had it lined with local dirt/clay and it was much like a  Tim Lively washtub forge setup. I used charcoal and made my own because I didn't know anywhere to get good smithing coal in Central Oklahoma. As soon as a tried a *good* hand crank blower I ditched the electric one and have been using a hand crank or even bellows ever since for solid fuel. (Save for a billet welding forge I improvised one weekend to show folks that they could get started smithing for under US$25:  forge, blower, anvil, basic tools).

No, but I will contact them now. Thanks for all the info.

Claying a forge or making a ducks nest would be the terms I'd search. If you're using coal you want a ducks nest. If you settle on charcoal it does better in a trench shaped firepot. You can find ample info on trenches in the jabod threads. 

 You're hand cranked blower will save you plenty of fuel just starting out as Thomas mentioned. You'll have your hands full without having to remember to turn the air off every time you take the steel out of the fire. If you happen to be using anthracite you'll want an electric blower to keep it lit but Bituminous, charcoal,or wood you only need air going to the fire while you have your stock heating. Glad to have you, be safe and remember it's supposed to be fun. 

Pnut

4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

If you are just getting started; why the heck do you want an electric blower?  You like wasting fuel and steel?  Hand crank is MUCH MUCH easier to learn on.

Thanks for the info. I will stick with the hand crank. I found a local blacksmith supplier with coal. I am picking up a bag tomorrow for $27

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by Mod30
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The best way to search for things on the forum is to use your favorite search engine (I like Google) and add site:iforgeiron.com to the end of the string. So a search for claying a forge would look like this           clay a forge site:iforgeiron.com   I tried it and got 6,060 hits in 0.37 seconds.

You also need to edit your quotes to save data and bandwidth and stay off the moderators radar, as outlined in this thread.  The quote feature

You may want to review all the "how do I start a coal fire in the forge" posts now.

Thanks again. I will try the search the way you describe.