[TheForge] fire starting

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> You said hard coal as in anthracite? if your using that you need to add
> some kindling. Hard coal also takes more air to keep going which can be a
> problem. When your welding remember that your trying to suggest to the
> steel that they want to get together not force them together. Hit it too
> hard and all you do is splash out the metal that would form the weld.

Calamity, Kim is someone I listen to. He's got it together, knows his coal.

But, this is about starting fires. Now, there's a lot of ways to firew up a
coal fire, and most of them involve wood, charcoal, charcoal lighter fluid,
or any combination, but I've found myself a sure-fire method, that reqires
minimal stree, throughout your forging. Please understand, too, that I was
trained on a coal fire, and later learned to use propane, then formed my
preferences.

Get yourself either a round firepot, or a square one that's big enough to
build a round fire in. Build yourself the makings of a small wood fire, in
the round, in the center. Surround it with partially burned wood, and or/
coke, again in tepee shape. Douse it with charcoal lighter fluid, or
kerosene, or even  non potable (fairly) pure alcohol. Nest the whole mess
with good coal, from whatever your source. Light it off, and leave it alone
for a few minutes, letting the flame light up the wood and charcoal,
cranking air to it, at need.

Get rid of them goddamn smokey, stinkey coal rocks, and add good hardwood
charcoal at need to the mess, and simplify life instead of dealing with that
silly modern coal- good charcoal burns nicer, cleaner, and you can even cook
over it, and unless you forge weld and pour lotsa borax all over everything,
all you need to do is dump the ashes every couple of days, rather than
continually crapping with the fire or cleaning out the clinkers.

And if you want it much easier than that, go to Ron Reil's website and build
yourself a good propane forge, using his instructions- but don't come
talking to me about it- my charcoal does my jobs for me ;-)

Phlip

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....