[TheForge] Phlip--using charcoal in your forge

[Mike Spencer]

> I've gotten the real charcoal....I'm still looking for sources
> nearby...

Phlip, you're in Massachusetts aren't you?

Out in Morse Corner -- northeast corner of Leverett -- there used to
be a family who ran two charcoal kilns -- brick beehive-shaped affairs
big enough to drive a pickup into.  They stopped burning about 30
years ago but I think the kilns are still there.  And there's a guy
named Jim Aaron nearby in Cooleyville -- part of Shutesbury -- with a
sawmill who saws mostly white oak for the boat building trade.

Somebody who wanted an adventure might be able to get the use of the
kilns, get enough oak or other hardwood slab from Jim and burn enough
charcoal to keep several smiths for a year.  I don't know if the
family who ran the biz is still in the area but if they are, they
might be available to give advice.

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada 
                                 
mspencer@tallships.ca            
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/