So I Acquired this Forge ...

[A C Richards]

No grate. Like Bill mentioned above it is a clinker breaker. You rock the ball to break the clinkers and then drag them out of the bottom. Also you are looking at the firepot where the base of the fire is built. Normally the forge chamber is significantly larger. When the firepot burns out you replace it and the rest of the forge is left intact. Someone modified this forge to create a much smaller fire chamber. You will need to build a beehive type fire to really get any work done. Charcoal will work and can get hot enough however coke or coal will get much hotter faster. Just get a low sulfur blacksmith coal. Last time I used coke it was really dirty and created clinkers very fast. The clinker is an accumulation of all the nasty non burnables in the coal/coke and oxides from your steel. It robs heat and makes it very easy to burn your steel. Using a solid fuel forge is an art. Takes a bit of time to get used to it. Give it a shot and see how you like it.

 

[Bill Burke]

From what I am seeing on youtube, when people use this type of forge they don't have a grate in the bottom. The coal is just piled in a heap and they go to town. Am I seeing that right? Would you put a grate over the bottom where the blower exhausts?

If you put a grate over it chances are you will melt the grate down into the tuyere.