Fire Stacking

[tobykilroy]

Can anyone point me in the direction of some examples and/or tutorials/pictures of the best way to stack your fire? Also how to look after it for the best temperatures?

Thanks again,

T

[divermike]

Can you be more specific, I'm not sure what fire stacking is.

[tobykilroy]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the prompt reply.
What I'm trying to ask is the best way to have the fire and the best way to put the metal into the fire for the best results.

For example, Do I stack the fire like a pyramid and put the metal into the heart of it, have the fire relatively flat and put the metal through it or make a kind of cave from the coal? I just don't seem to be getting enough heat.

[Max Mulholland - Tetnum]

put thr metal in the center of the fire if you have a bottom draft and just above and infront if thr tweer in a side draft

[Glenn]

What fuel are you using, coal, coke, charcoal, corncobs etc.

[divermike]

I hear a lot of guys here saying do not build a doves nest (cave) but I do all the time, depending on what I'm doing. The heat problem is likely related to air management. Make sure your grate is clear, and your flow is good, when it is, your fire will burn well, all things being equal. What fuel, size of firepot, etc. all have some effect. When you get a good coal fire going, do not pour coal on top, rather wet the sides, let it cement a little bit, and add fuel by pushing it in from the sides as it is consumned. It took me a year to figure that one out, sheesh. The center of the fire is a low oxygen zone, I read this in several books, so where your metal is in the fire is important as well. Good air flow is key. Hope this helps, there are a lot of smarter guys on this site than me, so wait a bit, and most likely, more answers will come.

[John Martin]

Well, there are two ways, well many ways, but I'v learned to ways.

One is a Honey-comb or cave.
This one, you make a mound of coal, and start the fire, the inside cokes, and you add coal to the top of it, and pushing it in from the sides. You then put your metal in level with the coal table.

The other one is a hemisphere. It's the one that I use. I use the cave for forge-welding. This hemisphere fire stacking, is how I do my coal fires. I get a mound of green coal in the firepot. I then start the fire.I let it all coke up, this takes about 10 minutes for me. I now have about two inches about my the rim of the firepot lit and at forging heat. This allows me to barely submerge my work in the coals for the best possible even heat, and I work three pieces easily with this setup, I also save a lot of fuel. Everyone has there own way, or a "practiced" way. I hope I helped you. Grab The Backyard Blacksmith, Lorelei Sims has a good tutorial for fire tending, as well as a ton of other stuff. Good luck.

Best Regards,
John

[ThomasPowers]

Each type of fuel and forge is slightly to very different. If you can tell us something about what *you* are using we may be able to better help you.

For example the way I tend my fire is very different with the coal I get out here in NM (fines that get soaked in water) than with the pea coal I used to use in Ohio that hardly ever saw water and it's the same forge and blower!

[Archie Zietman]

It sounds like you are talking about stacking logs in a campfire, which is not a forge.

[tobykilroy]

No I'm definately talking about a forge, my explanation is just a bit lacking.
As it's my first forge I have built one of those brake disc/rotor forges - YouTube - The Brake Drum Forge which seems to be working ok.

I hadn't heard about wetting the coal before, if I do I think I'll have to be careful with the firepot I use because it's cast iron and I think it may crack, but it sounds like an excellent idea. I was wondering how to make it stick.

By the way I am currently using lumpwood charcoal like you get for BBQs.

[Ethersin]

I use lump would charcoal, I'd prefer not to but it's all I can get at the moment.

I've just set up my forge a few day's ago, but i seem to use a cave.

My foge is based on the lively forge, but much rounder.

[divermike]

Coal will form a kind of bond with water and heat, so just sprinkle it around the burning area, and use your fire shovel to pack it down, you generally don't use a lot of water, so it will not be a hazard to your forge, but if you are worried about that, clean your forge out completely, and line it with fire clay or refractory cement. The moisture also creates an insulating blanket which focuses the heat. Good luck.

[ThomasPowers]

Charcoal is not coal so the wetting of the coal suggestions are probably not of use to you.

You can use water to help control the size of the fire as charcoal tends to expand the burning area to all the charcoal on the forge.

You should not have trouble with the brakedrum cracking as it shouldn't be getting that hot and you should be using *that* much water.

Most charcoal forges profit by having a limited fire size side to side but deeper so you can get a good reducing zone to work in.

The also generally need a "softer" air supply as it's easier to push air through charcoal piled up than coal and you *don't* want too much air.

[Glenn]

Wetting down the coal fire, like Thomas said, does NOT take much water, just a sprinkle or two. You only want to control the fire, not put it out.

You can use coal dust (fines) by putting all the fines into a bucket and filling it with water. Build a good hot fire, then reach down into the water and scoop up a hand full of coal mud and place it on the fire. It will then coke up and stick together.