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

[Saint Phlip]

Well, being a PROPERLY lazy blacksmith, back when I was lighting coal
fires, I'd fire up some charcoal (a few briquets) and lay the coal on
that. A bit of judicious air blasting, and I had a fire. However,
remembering PROPERLY lazy ;-) it occered to me that coal was just too
much work, so I switched to charcoal, and have been (mostly) using it
ever since.

It doesn't smell bad, it's easy to teach beginners on, and forge
welding's a dream- and all it takes to light it is a light dousing
with "boy scout water" and I'm not only up and running, but I can
actually cook lunch over the fire, or brew coffee, or watever, without
having it taste bad.

On 9/8/06, Jerry Frost <frosty at customcpu.com> wrote:
> 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/
>
> Wrom: HYUCDDJBLVLMHAALPT
>
>
>
> >
> > 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
> >
>
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-- 
Saint Phlip

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Has anyone seen my temper?
I seem to have misplaced it at Stalag XXXV....