new forge built

J

john warren

Joined
Oct 7, 2005
Messages
95
ok so last night i made a forge out of a brake drum from my international truck. 14 inches in diameter . using a none heating hair dryer for now. fired it up and brings a knife blank up to temp in about five minutes with charcoal.
should do real well with coal.
i made a hood that fits into the opening of my franklin stove in my shop. the forge is just high enough to sit over the edge of the apron of the stove. i figure if i build a fire in the stove it will have a nice draft, and with the hood should suck the forge gases right up and out the chimney. sort of a kimchie rigged side draft.
now i have a 30 mile drive to get to a place that sells coal.
hence my question,,, i'm just making a few knife blades for myself and friends. how much coal should i buy?
i'm thinking 100 pounds or so, but having never burned it im not sure how far it goes. i'm mostly doing heat treat with it anealing and such, though i am planning on hammering out a few carving blades. thanks for your help in advance.
 
100 pounds should be plenty for a start. I hope your able to find blacksmithing coal and I hope your chimney set up will handle the smoke. I had to leave my shop for at least a half hour after I got the coal to burn. The smoke is unreal when it is green. Once I made the switch to propane there was no turning back.
 
Look around for some coke. It should be available in your area. I live in s/e Ohio and find it can be had from the truckers that deliver it at the local plants. If you stop by my forge, I'll fix you up with some coke. Have fun with your project, Fred :D
 
Fred.Rowe said:
Look around for some coke. It should be available in your area. I live in s/e Ohio and find it can be had from the truckers that deliver it at the local plants. If you stop by my forge, I'll fix you up with some coke. Have fun with your project, Fred :D
Click to expand...
I knew Ohio had liberial laws but trucking in coke. you might be seeing guys with DEA on their jackets. :D
 
yes i'm planning on a gas forge in the future if i decide to do much more work. built this because it was all stuff i had laying around. wouldn't you know it i had a beautiful centrifical blower sitting in my garage for years. last year i decided i was never going to build anything with it and dumped it,,,, doh!
yes i know about smoke, thats why i figured on the hood with a draft fire going to suck it up the chiminy, we'll see if im all wet on that one.
id like to find some coke,,, (burning kind) i know thats basicly how the coal works , burning down to coke. just haven't found a source in south east michigan yet.
i would imagine 100 pounds will fit in a sealed garbage can to control humidity won't it?
 
ok,,, so,,, asking people in pontiac michigan if they know anyone thay sells coke,,, is a bad idea,,,, according to the judge,,,,
 
If you have to drive 30 miles to get coal I would get all I could haul with the price of gas.Dont worry about moisture on soft coal I leave mine outside so it will get wet then I dont have to use much water when burning it, also it will wash some of the dust out of it. Soft coal will burn just as good wet as it does dry.
 
ok, you've remoinded me about the water thing. i read about it but didnt get much info on it. whats the procedure?
 
Kim Breed said:
I knew Ohio had liberial laws but trucking in coke. you might be seeing guys with DEA on their jackets. :D
Click to expand...
I should have added the metallurgical and headed off the nose candy humor. I get more excited about a truck load of the BLACK stuff myself. That is enough nose candy for a metal pounder. Fred
 
well,,, got some pocohontis and fired her up. im quite surprised at how much faster it heats then charcoal. not worth bothering with that stuff. heated a 3/4 inch hunk of rebar to workable state in just a couple minutes.
i cut two small hunters out and worked them over pretty good on the anvil. thats goin go take some practice before i can consistantly move steel in the direction i want. but i was happy and making noise.
have them ruff ground and ready to heat treat. i have a couple small woodcarving knives i want to do too so i'll wait and heat treat every thing at once.
 
That' great John, Happy to hear you are up and running. Learning to forge is a lot of fun. :D Fred
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top