[TheForge] charcoal firepots

Mon Jul 8 11:22:00 2002

Walt -

I don't mind a few small clinkers. Frankly, that would be ideal, and the coal
I'm currently using generally makes one relatively small clinker.

What I can't stand, though, is clinker that comes from coal that apparently has
a relatively high slate content.
It's generally a white clinker, not as hard as typical clinker (almost like a
hard ash sometimes) and reminds me of corn flakes in size and shape.
It ends up all over in the firepot and rarely lumps together into a mass you
can actually grab and pull out.
I've only encountered it with two sources of coal, so it may be that the coal
was being passed off as blacksmithing coal when it, in fact, wasn't.
Coal like this also has a very strange characteristic in that sometimes you'll
end up with something that looks like albino coal.
It looks just like a piece of coal, but it's nearly white as snow.
But touch it and it disintegrates into nothing but a little pile of pure ash.

I agree with your observations in the difference between hand-cranked and
electric blowers.
I also prefer the hand-cranked blower. So much so that it appears I've been
tagged with a new nickname.
I visited a friend who has an electric blower a short while back, and we spent
the day at the forge.
The entire day I simply could not remember to hit the switch to turn off the
blower when I pulled the work from the fire.
So every time the work came out, my friend would have to say "SWITCH" as a
reminder.

So I went over to my friend's place this weekend, and as I pull up, his brother
sees me and says "Hi, Switch!".

I guess I can think of worse things people have called me. At least I earned
this one.

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Walter L. Mullett
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 10:20 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TheForge] charcoal firepots

Bob,

Interesting deduction that the size of the clinker is variable with the
amout of air.  On both of my forges, I have hand crank blowers and I
develope only a few small clinkers.  I had attributed that result to the
quality of my coal.  However, when I visit other shops that have electric
blowers, I see they get large clinkers.  Looks like you are probably right
in your deduction.

Unlike you though, I don't mind the few small clinkers I get.  I like the
control I get with the hand crank, my fire stays cleaner longer and it will
hold, un-attended, for almost 2 hours.

Walt