Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Now I can start the fire...


Recommended Posts

I've been lurking around here on and off for the better part of a year now and haven't felt compelled to post either because I don't know the first thing about blacksmithing or because the numerous questions I have, have all been asked and answered.

Well, last night, I finished building my very first forge. I built it into what used to be my welding table by cutting a 14" hole in the top and dropping in half of a cast iron roller of some sort. I'm not exactly sure what it was but the end that I used was big, heavy, bowl shaped, had a 3" hole in the bottom and made of cast iron so now it's a forge pot. Anyway, some 2" ID pipe, and a hair dryer (I tried my shop vac but it's WWWwaaaayy to much air and restricting the flow was too much trouble.) an industrial fan for ventilation, an oxyacetylene torch to get it lit and... "It's Alive".

I was only lighting it to see: 1) If it would light. 2) Would the airflow be effective 3) How hot would it get 4) How much smoke would it make. I got answers to all of my questions in about 10-15 minutes of piddling around with the set-up. It lit, the airflow, once I switched from the ridiculously over powered shopvac to hairdryer, was adequate but will of course require a bit of tweaking, it turned a piece of 3/8 round bar into a sparkler in just a couple of minutes (I didn't time it but it seemed plenty fast to me) and even with an exhaust fan a foot or two from the forge I'll need to either make a hood or do all of my smithing out doors.

As I said this took all of 10-15 minutes and I was done for the night. That's when the question and the whole point of this post occured to me. I learned from you good folks how to build a forge, start and manage a fire, where to place a workpiece in the fire and a lot of other things. The one thing I didn't get from you and I haven't been able to find searching the site is...How do you put your fires out when you're done?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may wanna look at the bps. So you can start ur fire without a o/a. I use a full sheet of newspaper, 2 full sheets ripped 1/2 make 4 lil ball and put some coal dust with em and put the balls in the full paper along with the coal dust & make like a pie . (I start my fires like in Backyard Blacksmith)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shutting a fire down depends on the fuel you are using, if using coke, normally I just close down the air blast, coal, I would again just close down the air and leave it. Make sure nothing is around to ignite

If you are using new coal on a new forge, I would shut the air off, leave it to cool for 10 minutes or so, dredge out the clinker, and depending if are embers still glowing, either rake them out, or if its a steel base forge sprinkle water on them. If you can leave them dry, they are ideal for starting the fire next time.

Water in a cast iron base can cause cracking the pot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks HK, I've read all of the blueprints. Though I've just got my forge built I've already used information from this site a couple of times. As for paper vs. o/a, is there a particular reason why a torch isn't favored? Call me lazy but I even use a propane torch to light the fire in my fireplace and for my barbeque/grill. Not that I can't get it going by other means (just for fun I experiment with starting fires by means of anything from a bow and drill to a magnesium block with flint) I use the torches because it's the fastest easiest thing I've found, aside from accelerant of course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Put the fire out? Once you have been bitten by the blacksmithing bug, it is most difficult, nay most near impossible to put the fire out.

Now to safely shut down the forge for a evening, you simply remove the fuel from the fire pot. As you will be gone for the night, I STRONGLY SUGGEST you shovel the fire, hot embers, etc into a 5 gallon bucket of water. The fire will hiss at you, raise cloud of steam in objection, but will surrender. DO NOT forget to empty the hot embers in the ash dump into the water bucket also. I sleep well at night knowing that there is 2 inches of water over anything that used to be hot and the fire in the forge is indeed out.

Others will simply break the fire apart and shovel it out onto and around the fire pot allowing it to die out. This can take a while, sometimes an hour or more. Either way, save the coke to start the next fire.

A lot of folks forget that the last piece of hot metal is still hot. If it is near combustible materials, you may want to change your work patterns and place it in a safe area where it can cool without setting something on fire later.


Consider the water bucket method and sleep well at night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shutting a fire down depends on the fuel you are using/Water in a cast iron base can cause cracking the pot.


Doh! All that writing and I didn't bother to mention that it was a new coal fire. The cracking pot thing was what I was worried about.

So, without a forced airflow, coal will just go out? I burn a lot of wood and charcoal but this was my first coal fire and I didn't know if, once started, it would go out on it's own or would continue to burn all of the remaining fuel until it was all smoke and ash.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too have been reading and lurking. I posted a couple times, but figured my questions would be answered without asking. It seems that the simple things like this question are some of the things that escape me. Next month I should be ready to start. My method is to read as much as my mind can hold and try to wrap my head around some basics, then give it a try and realize I don't know anything until I do it.

I truely enjoy this phase of any new venture. By doing some mental prep work I can hopefully avoid some serious mistakes. Of course, I won't avoid all mistakes because that is how I learn.

I love to see these types of posts: they are very encouraging.

Thanks to all of my teachers here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I rake mine out and leave it, but I have a gravel floor, and nothing near the forge that is flammable. I always rake a small pile of coke together for the next fire. One of our forgemasters always says to rake off the coke on top of the firepot pile, and discard the remainder under it as it is likely somewhat clinkered up. This all depends on the coal however, and the stuff I have is easily discernable between clinker and good coke.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...