[TheForge] charcoal firepots

Mon Jul 8 07:50:00 2002

I have recently had a thing driven home to me.  I have a forge that I made
from an old  brake drum and an electric blower with a light dimmer switch
for blower control.  The wind this spring took down my chimney, and I
haven't had time to fix it the way I want, so I keep leaving it alone.  I
also have a rivet forge that I got at an auction.  In my brake drum forge
(my forge) I find that a fire left unattended will go out in about 10 - 15
minutes.  Also, I get huge amounts of clinker in this forge.  In the rivet
forge, I found out yesterday that a fire left unattended for about 2 hours
(with lots of coal and just fired well before leaving it) will still have a
lot of heat to it, and will start right back up when you crank the blower.
Both forges are bottom draft, and I could not believe the difference until I
saw it with my own eyes.  I get almost NO clinker with the rivet forge.  Let
me know what you all think are the reasons for this, please.  I thought that
I built a nice little forge, but after using this rivet forge, I can hardly
figure out what is going on.

Rick Crawford at  Rafter Lazy C
Home of Rick's Forge and Lem the Wonder Mule
email = [email protected]
home page = http://www.tbcnet.com/~rafterlazyc/
near Rochelle, in the middle of northern Illinois, USA

----- Original Message -----
From: "T.L.Tallman" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, July 07, 2002 5:02 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] charcoal firepots

> ok thanks good idea i want to replace the old truck tire rim forge with
> another type .. wood i.e. charcoal is no promblem here surrounded by hard
> woods terry
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jerry Frost" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, July 07, 2002 12:10 PM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] charcoal firepots
>
>
> > Morning Terry:
> >
> > From what I've seen charcoal firepots are about twice as deep as coal
> > firepots. There will (I'm sure) be several folk respond with actual
> > dimensions though.
> >
> > Regardless, I favor the old "duck's nest" to a firepot. Basically the
> duck's
> > nest is a shallow depression in a clayed table around the air grate. I
> then
> > build whatever size "firepot" I need from firebrick. This lets me burn
> > almost anything and build virtually any size or shape fire I want in one
> > forge.
> >
> > Something else to think about is the basic type of air blast. I believe
> side
> > draft forges are better suited for charcoal than updraft forges.
> >
> > Of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
> >
> > <grin>
> >
> > Frosty
> > ------------------------
> > If it ain't forged
> > it ain't real.
> > Wrought iron is.
> > The FrostWorks
> >
> > Meadow Lakes, AK.