forgeing problems (poof-no eyebrows)

E

Eric M Ericson

Joined
Jun 29, 2001
Messages
379
I got some new coal from a different supplier. cleaned out the forge and tried to light it.

back ground, my forge is made from a brake drum, nesting in a 35gal. steel barrel. the grate is a piece of 3/8 steel. air is inlet through a 2 inch pipe welded to the grate. It also passes through a hole in the side of the barrel.

here's where it gets interesting. for some reason I could not get the coal to light. :confused: anyway I resorted to a small paper cup of gasoline poured at arms length(while held is my longest tongs)over the coals.

through in a matchfrom about 4 feet back and turn on the blower. i got realy nice flames for a moment, and then the unexpected happened. I must have got gas fumes in the bottom because it went poof!! and a long toung of flame shot out of the hole in the barrel around the air inlet pipe. My son thought it was cool. I wasn't so happy.

any way we did finaly get it lit,and it burned realy well, and Bruce Your instructions work:) I'm still on the hard end of the learning curve, but that's what I expected
 
You got LUCKY !!!!!:eek: :eek:
Don't try that again PLEASE...:)
The easiest way to start your coal in the forge is to clean out the ducks nest and put in some paper and a handful of pinecones and some dry sticks and then start the blower,then start adding some green coal as it starts easier,then pour on the coke and the other coal as you normaly would.It is allot safer this way.
Really any kind of a small wood fire will work.
I have found that if I am havind trouble getting the coke to start even after I have a small wood fire going,I will pour a little burnt motor oil on the coke and it will soak in a little while it is starting to burn from the fire and thus start the coke just like using lighter fluid on the BBQ grill.
Good Luck,And PLEASE be careful,
Bruce
 
I light my forge with gasoline as well. I even used to light a barrel stove with it when I first started all this stuff in jr. high school. I learned an important lesson that my kindergarten teacher always taught about glue applied to gas as well; a little bit goes a long ways. First time I started my forge, I used maybe 4 fluid ounces of the stuff. I had a shockwave travel down my air hose and into my blower. It was something else that's for sure. In the barrel stove, well, lets just say I wouldn't be posting this if I had been dumb enough to be standing in front of the door when it lit ignited. I dropped a match down the chimney to start it. Um, well, basically a log blew the door open and flew about 20 feet, and probably would have gone further had it not broken on my anvil. My barrel stove became a cannon, and all from about 4 to 5 fluid ounces of petrol. Frankly gasoline is pretty amazine stuff, pound for pound the fumes of gasoline have more explosive power than nitrogylcerin, though it expands at a slower rate. That is to say, it exerts more energy but does so in a somewhat more linear fashion, part of why it's much better than nitro glycerin for powering engines. There's also the whole one minor fender bender and you explode issue as well ;)
 
You guys are lucky, I used to work in a quarry drilling and blowing holes, always used fertilizer, an explosive expert told me that 1 gallon of gas was equal to 2 sticks of dynamite, you guys are flirting with death, a fellow tried to lite his wood stove with gas because the wood was wet and wouldn't burn, when he threw the gas in it exploded and caught him on fire, he died 4 days later, he was only 20 yrs old.
I use a chimney for a barbeque, just put in 5-6 briquettes, a couple
pieces of newspaper in the bottom,in about 10 minutes throw in the forge add air and coal.

Accidents can happen in a hurry, THINK, and be careful
 
a word of caution. i would NOT use gasoline. nitrous or any other fuel or racing fuel to start your forges. my reasoning in this is that these fuels are used becuase they burn extremely fast, and explode to produce power in an engine. this is my reasoning in not using it in a forge, you have no control over how that fuel reacts after you throw in a match, and it could hurt you badly, i dont want to hear about anyone being injured or killed trying to light their forge in a dangerous way.
 
My shop rules learned the hard way regarding gasoline for a starter is as follows:

1) No air should be blowing into firepit when gas is ignited. From experience this could EASILY be deadly.

2) Use a VERY small amount. 1-2 fluid ounces is all that should be used in a small forge, 2-3 is max for a large forge.

3) Never ever ever put more than 1 ounce of it in a barrel stove as a starter.

4) Use a binder to control the burn rate better. This is simple shop-level knowledge to anyone that knows how a molotov cocktail works. Sawdust is one of the best, oatmeal is the very best. The gas will absorb into these and create fumes on a more linear output level and therefore it will not blow you to bits.

5) NEVER EVER SET THE CAN OF GAS ANYWHERE NEAR WHERE YOU ARE IGNITING WHAT YOU HAVE POURED. I did not learn this personally, but it should be common knowledge. After you pour the SMALL amount of gasoline in, GET THE CAN AWAY FROM THERE! Cover the can's openings too.

6) Never pour gasoline in a forge which may be hot or which may contain embers. If they are not flaming liquid gasoline(which does not burn directly) will douse them, but if there are others that do not get smothered by the liquid, they may ignite the fumes. This is a huge problem if you are holding the can and fire shoots out at it and you.
 
You are playing with fire, literally :eek: I would never use fluids that tend to rapidly evaporate for starting a fire, especially not gasoline. That´s the standard BBQ accident, gasoline explosion sets the cook on fire.
Organic fluids/solvents that evaporate easily produce a big amount of igniteable,explosive gas-air mixture in a short amount of time. Nothing you want around when you light a fire. You can easily gel the gasoline, by the way, to help the gasoline stay where you want it and not produce fumes that rapidly, but it´s less than safe too.
Use the BBQ igniter stuff (usually hexamethylenetetramin/"hexamin"), it´s safer and you don´t blast your ass off.
 
If you follow the above list of rules a gasoline lighting of a forge can never kill or seriously injure you by explosive force or flashburn, though the normal rules still apply to holding your hand in the fire :p
 
I use a little lighter fluid now, but I did use gas to start small bonfires for charcoal for awhile. I found the safest thing was to stand well away from the fire and dribble a little gas on a board or stick. Then go over to the fire, light the stick and use it as a torch, and stick it into the bottom of the fire to get it going. This way only a very small amount of gas remains to be lit.

One of our police officers here in Virden died two years ago because he poured gasoline on a pile of sticks and leaves and then lit it directly with a Zippo--he had one foot in the pile and was leaning over it. He never had a chance. Don't play around with this stuff.

Actually, I've found the BBQ lighter fluid starts the fire more easily anyway. The gasoline burns quickly and the fumes are burning more than the liquid, I think. Whatever it is, the gas tends to burn away before the wood or charcoal catches.
 
That's why you mix it with sawdust or oatmeal! Burns longer and produces a more steady flame. It's cheaper than lighter fluid too, and since I have no job that really is a big plus....
 
I use a gas forge, but I usually start my bbq by wrapping a couple of pieces in newspaper, lighting the newspaper, then fanning that with a hair dryer. This lights the briquettes in the paper easily, and the blower gets them to superheat, which spreads rapidly. Seems that it would be even faster if one did this on a forge blower.
 
I forgot to mention, disel fuel or kersone is a lot safer to light stuff with. i used a a quart of old motor oil two quarts of disel and enough sawdust to soak it up. Makes a great wood stove lighter, with out the bang:)
 
Crude oil actually makes a pretty good forge fuel.... you drip it in just a tiny bit at a time, it's excellent...
 
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