[TheForge] Re: Coal, Propane, or charcoal

[Brian Reedy]

I've always used the lump (real) charcoal, even experimented with making my own with varied amounts of success.  In fact, my first four or five projects were made with homemade charcoal, although the forge they were used in was about 6 inches deep making it easy to get the steel buried in heat.  Perhaps coal has spoiled me.  Perhaps it is I who has failed the charcoal.  I'm leaning towards propane almost entirely due to convenience.  With two small kids it's not often I get the chance to pound steel all day long, usually 1-2 hrs max.  For those of you speaking highly of charcoal, what fire management techniques should I be using?  It seems that using charcoal the same as coal is doomed to fail.  Obviously you're not going to make a "beehive" out of dampened charcoal, but then again what do I know?  Any help is truly appreciated.

Brian Reedy
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