[TheForge] Frustratin first attempt

[Jerry Frost]

----- Original Message -----
From: "WinnonaD" <winnonad@yahoo.com>
To: "Blacksmith's I-Forge" <theforge@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2003 1:52 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Frustratin first attempt


> I hate ta break up this fist fight over $%&$%#%@
> swearin with smithin talk, but I'z gonna anyway.....
>
> Whal, I guess I gotta find me a local smith who knows
> what he's doin 'n' learn how ta build 'n' manage a
> coal fire!
>

Well  #(&%#&$($@#&^&!!! So you did! I'm afraid all the #$&*^^(*#^%*$ING!!!
language gave me such a case of the vapors I declare my thinking just wasn't
up to snuff. <sniff!>

>
> Figger I probably also need ta break up me coal into
> smaller chunks - gotta find a way ta do that without
> makin a holy mess!
>
> What else am I doin wrong (other than using coal
> instead of gas) ????
>
> OK, ya kin go back ta talkin 'bout "BS" agin....
>
> Calamity (who's too damned stubborn ta give up) Jane
>


I think your biggest problems are using too large of pieces and a bare forge
floor. Have you clayed it? Anthricite is also not the best though it will
work it's harder to get to behave properly.

I have a cast Buffalo rivet forge and not having a firepot use stacked fire
brick. If you place three bricks on their sides, one on each side, one
across the back and lay one flat across the front you'll have a good sized
fire to get started with.

The firebrick fire pot will contain the fire making it much easier to keep
it from spreading. More importantly it will help keep the fire deep. Your
fire needs to be deep, you want a nice high dome/pile. As the fire burns
it'll hollow out the center of the pile. Small pieces and dampened fines
will form the dome where large pieces just plain pass too much air through.
The dampened fines also assist in coking though anthricite doesn't coke
easily if at all.

Once you have a good heart (bright yellow to white heat with a low to
moderate blast) in the center of the dome, insert your stock horizontally
into the center of the heart, well above the air grate. You need to keep
plenty of fuel between your stock and the air grate to consume all the oxy
or your work will burn up.

Keep a close eye on your work, a properly burning coal fire melts steel
faster than a rosebud. Keep adding fresh coal to the outside of the pile and
tamping it in as it's consumed in the fire.

Hope this is more helpful than my last post on the subject.

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.