[TheForge] forging questions

[Bruce .]

Terry,

I think Jerry and Pete have addressed your questions.  It sounds to me like
charcoal-making would be a good option for you, the main problem being
cutting and splitting the wood down to reasonable size.

I'll repeat a rumor I heard or read some years back -- that hardwood chunks
could be used in a coal forge as if they were green coal.  You'd bring the
wood in from the side of the pot as it "cokes" (i.e., turns from wood to
charcoal).  The reason for the wet was to keep the whole potful from going
up as a wood fire.
The original rumor was to soak dry wood chunks overnight in water, but I
presume green wood would work as well.  I never got to try this.  I don't
have any capability to process wood other than by hand, and I no longer
have a coal forge at home (thanks to a bitchy neighbor).  I'm thinking,
though, that wood chips from a commercial chipper might fill the bill.  It
would be truly neat to have a tree service deliver a load of chipped trees
and to use it for forge fuel.  Might be a pipe dream, though.

I like the idea of using corn.  Our open forge meet is held as the shop of
a corn farmer!  I might just rake his yard -- there's always spillage --
and give it a try!

Bruce
NJ

On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 12:04 PM, terry l. ridder <terrylr at blauedonau.com>
wrote:

> hello
>
> benn chatting with various hobby blacksmiths and the subjest came upon
> alternate fuels for the forge.
>
> coal or charcoal are the preferred choice for fuel.
> propane has become on the expensive side in the last year or two.
>
> several have been using and testing out corn. corn is used in corn
> stoves for heating so why not use it in a forge.
>
> one has taken an older torpedo heater and modified it to use spent oil
> from small internal combustion engines and vehicle engines. The probelm
> is with the noise.
>
> another is using spent cooking oil and is used to make bio-diesel.
> he is trying both ways. just as the spent oil and as bio-diesel.
>
> I was looking for a common item that is readily available for free or
> minimal cost and that would provide a controlable combustion.
>
> i have been experiementing with coffee grounds.
> with all the coffee shops around there are a lot of coffee grounds.
> several shops give away the grounds for use in the garden and flower
> beds. I have done this for several years.
>
> there are several coal fired power plants still in Illinois and
> Wisconsin. There is one in Wisconsin that I am familar with that crushes
> the coal into "fines", basically to me it looks like coal dust.
>
> they use blowers to inject the coal "fines" into the boilers to generate
> the steam for the turbines.
>
> why not do the same with coffee ground to fire a forge?
>
> the difficult part is keeping the firebox hrout enough to ignite the
> injected coffee grounds without having to use an external ignition
> source.
>
> the coffee grounds air dry on baking sheets in the oven. the oven has a
> pilot light which provides just enough heat to dry the coffee grounds in
> a day.
>
> I have been toying with the idea of using waste heat from the forge to
> dry the coffee grounds while in the hopper. this is not working the way
> i envisioned it. air drying is perhaps the best way to go.
>
>
> --
> terry l. ridder ><>
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