[TheForge] Non-Spontanious Ignition. Lighting your forge on purpose.

[Jerry Frost]

It's been quite a while since a thread about lighting 
your coal forge ran on the list. I'll kick it off with 
my favorite method.

I cut or tear a strip of cardboard about 1 1/2-2" wide 
a foot or so long and roll it tightly. Then I place it 
over the center of my air grate and allow it to spring 
open a little. Ideally the gaps and cardboard are about 
the same. I make a crater shaped mound of coal around 
the coil to hold it in place then pile smallish chunks 
on the coil. These need to be coarse enough air can 
pass through them but I pile fines on the outside of 
the mound to contain the air.

Once I have it laid I drop 2-3 lit wooden matches into 
the coil while giving it a real gentle blast, just 
enough to keep the matches going but not blow them out. 
This is, believe it or not, the trickiest part of the 
whole process and a few drops of lighter fluid (scout 
water <grin>) are an easy cure. As the cardboard coil 
starts to burn I cover it completely in coarse 3/4" +/- 
coal and increase the blast. Once the coal starts to 
take I cover it with fines and give it the air.

It takes longer to describe the technique than it takes 
to start the fire.

To get the fire ready for forging is a different matter 
of course and depends entirely on personal preference 
and what you're going to be doing.

My like to coke up the day's coal in the morning rather 
than have the smoke and flame with me all day.

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

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: <dann at wctatel.net>



>
> Bob,
>
> Sounds fishy to me.  Wet coal, or dry coal, it is 
> takes both heat and air
> to get it to burn.  That is the most frustrating part 
> of working a coal
> forge.   My hats off to those who usually get the 
> forge fire started with
> a single sheet of crumpled newspaper.  More than 
> once, I resorted to a
> handful of match light brick-ets nested in forge 
> when I needed the coal
> forge working without a big loss of time or 
> embarassment.
>
> Wet hay can spontaneously combust because it gets a 
> mold kind of reaction
> going that eventually heats the and dries the core 
> enough to ignite.  I
> wouldn't be surprised to learn that the mold decomp 
> process might even
> produce some combustable gasses.
>
> With coal,  the cellulose -  to - carbon change 
> occured millions of years
> ago.
>
> Dann
>