Why Your Coal Forge Sucks
2023 ж. 1 Сәу.
9 574 Рет қаралды
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I almost passed this video up because of the 53 minuet length. A lot of long tutorial videos are full of unnecessary and useless fodder. But I am glad I watched. From the first minuet till the last I sat riveted. Comprehensive and educational as well as entertaining. I am new to blacksmithing and as far as I am concerned you are a master . All of my blacksmithing will be an attempt at forging myself in your image. Thank you. I have subscribed and will be studying your entire library.
Thanks mate. Sometimes there's a lot to say! 😂
This is the type of video i was looking for when I first got into blacksmithing thank you for making such a comprehensive video on the way to use a solid fuel forge
You're very welcome!
My thoughts exactly.
Very good explanation. I built my coke forge with common sense, a bit of research and what was available. Ie front rotors off a discovery. It does work well but when I do finally run out of rotors I'll know what to build. Thanks
I love working with charcoal. I love the theatre of the flames and coals and just how much control you have to pinpoint the heat into selected areas of the piece your are working. We have a lcoal guy that make excellent hardwood charcoal so very handy indeed.
I'm 15 (this is my Dad's account) and you helped me with my schoolwork today, thank you.👩🏭👋🙂
Happy to help!
Thanks Alex, great lesson, wish you did this a few years ago, would have saved me a lot of trial and error!😅 I started with a gas forge without any knowledge and hated it, built a charcoal forge but found the fuel costly and then found coke was about 1/3 of the cost! Been through every discovery you have just talked about! Finding coke is now impossible to get so will be back to charcoal in a month or so!😩 Will work on getting the fire management better to keep cost down! Some of the charcoal lumps I get are half the size of a house brick, will start breaking them down more than I do now! Thanks again mate!🇦🇺👍
Brilliant! I'm glad it was helpful!
Finally got around to watching the entire video. Great explanation. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This video is stellar. It is like a blacksmith giving a university lecture. Absolutely amazing information and really truly helpful. There are so many videos that explain a lot of this stuff by 'feel' rather than by reason/science. It is so nice to have a really in-depth explanation of how it *works* for real.
Thank you! I actually did used to guest lecture at a college and university level, so it's good that I've still "got it" 😂
@@ValhallaIronworkseverything you are saying has me like a kid in a candy store! You’ve still “got it”… I haven’t started any blacksmithing at all but I followed “black bear forge”s “$500 start blacksmithing” video but I don’t want to deal with gas forges… so I figured I’d get started with propane so I can build myself a charcoal forge. With your knowledge i feel I can get started with accuracy! I feel more encouraged to even start with all this knowledge, Thank You!
I really appreciate this video. Am a new blacksmith struggling to use a coal forge by trial and error. This was a huge help.
I'm very glad to hear that!
Looks like I might be rebuilding my solid forge soon. (current one works, but could work better)
Great discussion on the workings of a coal/charcoal forge. A boring talk to newbies who just want to make a sword, LOL. One that they need to hear though. Usually followed by the golf ball size lump of coals and beating a cold piece of steel. Well done.
Right on
This is the best video on solid fuel forges ever!! Thanks for taking the time to make it.
You're very welcome!
Thanks, your experiences mirror mine with my coal forge. I suspect there's a "Why Your Induction Forge Sucks" video in your future. I'm building a large ribbon burner forge now, but still do most of my work in my coal forge. However . . . there's an induction forge in my future, I can feel it calling to me!
haha personally I think induction forges are a wanky fad, but I'm a bit of a traditionalist, so I could be very wrong there.
Stay traditional with Coalfire sooo magic Somysterious more Than enough coal and Else we follow where There is still coal aloud Blacksmith theo jilderts Harlingen holland... Keep on smithing ...
I just fell upon this video and I wish I would have found it sooner. Wonderful content and amazing job as a teacher. Hope to see more. Great job. Thank you
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
Very good sir. Thank you for taking the time to explain what is necessary to understand.
You are welcome! Thanks for watching!
About to make my own forge with a friend. Really helpfull video, thank you !
Glad I could help! Good luck with the build!
Another great video Alex! Great explanation of the how and why. I'm building a new charcoal forge and will take a lot of the information from here and implement it in the build. Thanks for the expansive explanation and knowledge! 👍⚒️🔥
Glad it was helpful!
Alex, i found your youtube channel perhaps 3 years ago, and your video on making your charcoal forge was what convinced me I could make my own. I have been doing my own experimentation ever since. So much mis-information is out there regarding charcoal forging, and I really appreciate your video. It has confirmed many of the things I have discovered on my own. My forge is a small side draft, but I too have found that charcoal can run HOT and efficient and one doesn't need a deep firepot to develop a nice heart to the fire.
The good thing about solid fuel is that you can pile it up on its own to essentially CREATE a deeper firepot! It truly is a wonderful way to forge and it makes me sad how many people think of it as primitive compared to gas! Glad you're enjoying it!
Thanks for the info on how a coal forge works I've been trying to get my coal forge to work and I've had a lot of problems with getting it to burn properly
Hopefully you found your answers in this video!
I have a wood forge from Whitlox Forge with a dial-a-tuyere. I’ve been burning coal in it lately thanks to friends giving me a couple of bags of bituminous. However, I’m about out and have a lot of scrap wood on my acreage to use up. So, I’ll probably switch back to that for my weekly livestreams soon.
Hi Jack, fancy seeing you here, you a long way from home!😂🤣🇦🇺👍
The day Alex drops into my livestream, making 2 Aussies visiting, I’ll fangirl for sure!
@@JackPinesBlacksmithing I’ll have a talk to him Jack, its 2am Sunday morning you live steam so might be a bit of an ask but you never know! He may be just home from his weekly twin head club meeting!😅😂🤣
Best video I’ve seen on the subject. Thanks brother!
Glad it was helpful!
I think I just sat through a college course. Excellent video on the topic!
😂 Glad you enjoyed it!
You’re a good teacher, I didn’t expect to watch this for a whole hour but I did.. I learned a lot from you, I appreciate it!
Glad it was helpful!
This explains so much of the process. Thanks
You're very welcome!
Do you have a video on forge design as in dimensions and shape?
The theory in these last three videos has everything you need to know!
He mate good explaining nice to think About always explore... Keep sharp..where down under do you live? State . Town... I nearly Went australian in1981 Welded and picked Grapes and oranges Mountgambier a nd Mildura....now blacksmith harlingen Holland.. for20 years Greetings theo jilderts Australia 273 times Holland...
thank you for sharing your time and knowledge
You are very welcome!
I've worked with propane mostly for years now, and now that I'm away from all my old smithing equipment, I had to build a reliable coal forge to make due. It's been rough trying to trouble shoot it, but this video has helped me a lot in its design! Just started smithing with it and it works great!
Excellent! I always think when making my videos that even if they help just one person then it's been worth it! Keep that fire lit!
Thank You ...
I learned more watching this than I did in two years of metal work and physics at school, thanks for bringing us along. Aged 14 I asked my physics teacher what a flame was and he either didn't know or didn't know how to explain it- you managed very well.
Haha that's awesome to hear! I'm really glad it helped so much! I've been thinking of doing more of this series.
Been trying to decide on a Forge type so I can get into Blacksmithing, and it kinda sounds like Charcoal may be my simple starter path. Thanks for the vid!
My pleasure!
Thanx for this lecture, mate! I have a subtle question, is there a recommended ratio for the fire pot versus the twier inlet for added efficiency regardless of the flow rate? Further, I wanna make a forge for general purposes and contemplating using a decommissioned boiler tank, about a foot in diameter, and wondering if should I use the end of it as a fire pot or use it length-wise like a trough!?
To answer your first question, it depends on the volume of air you're moving! I'm not sure of any exact known formula, however as a rule, when you look at your blower's output vent, you want the opening of your tuyere to be of a similar size. For the second question, it also depends! But this time, it depends on the sort of work you're doing. If you're making lots of items which can fit inside of one square foot, then go one way, if you're going to be making a lot of gate components or swords or other long things, then go the other way!
Thanks mate, Great video for someone starting out such as myself, and lots of pointers that will (hopefully) help me from making most of the mistakes you mentioned. Just wondering where you get your charcoal from down here, as I am way down in the south of the state and looking into options. Cheers, J
You want to get yours from www.grilla.com.au/ - that's where I get mine!
@Valhalla Ironworks Awesome, thanks heaps. Better than trying to get it from bunnings!
Well said. Solid fuel forges are quite predictable and controllable. To broaden the scope, they grow a lot of grain here, and spoiled grain is easy to come by and will get to forging temperature, though welding temperature with grain is a challenge. Worth a try for anyone on a tight budget for fuel.
Good one, Mate! I might add that I have found by adding a piece of firewood or a large chunk of charcoal to the top of a coal fire, then banking with more coal, one can leave it unattended and go have lunch etc... No additional air flow is needed to keep the fire going, On returning from your break, just start cranking and the core will come to life.
That's a great tip!! And I always advocate a good lunch!
I tried wood before it was pine. And I was quite impressed with the heat. But as you mentioned it burns fast which is the only downside.
cheers maybe ill dig out my coke forge and get it running again
Liked, subscribed, 2nd comment. So much knowledge… Thank You! I haven’t started blacksmithing yet but I feel much more confident now with all this awesome information!
You're very welcome! I hope to do more deep dive content like this in future!
Hi ! Is this method good enough for melting , lets say copper ? Looking into forging and casting. Beside all that thanks for your helpful videos ! ❤❤
Yes, absolutely! This method can easily liquefy solid steel if you do it right!
I will be building one on the information I got out of this video thanks
Excellent! Have fun!
Thanks!
No problem!
So I remember in your "why you like coal" video you were talking about heat shielding. The example you used was if you are about to quench a bowie knife this is how you would heat the entire blade evenly using your solid fuel forge. Can you explain how exactly you would do that I am having a really hard to time finding a video explaining and this is the only channel I have seen even mention it casually or otherwise? Another great video though both this video and the one I just mentioned have helped me a ton. I am going to redesign my forge idea now after watching this!
One of the simplest ways to do it is to use a large piece of angle iron, or a couple of firebricks, to form a "tent" over the top of the coals to trap the heat inside. Doing this means that the heat can't escape out the top and it forms larger, more evenly heated areas!
Makes sense thank you for this response!
Very helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Great video! thank you! :)
You're very welcome
Hi mate and thanks so much for your video on solid fuel forges, and how to get them set up as effectively as possible. I'm currently considering purchasing the necessary materials, as well as the best hand crank blower I can afford, and either paying to have it fabricated, (as I don't have any welding equipment at the moment) or possibly asking a mate if they know anyone who can do it for a carton of beer or 50 bucks, as finances, for me, are ridiculously tight at present. I'm also preparing to begin my own journey into the craft of blacksmithing and bladesmithing, so I'm wondering on how big of a forge I should be looking at putting together? I'd like something big enough to reach forge welding temps and to perform reasonably large tasks. Even though the thought of hammer blank sized billets is very appealing, buying a hydraulic forge press is definitely not an option at this stage. If you have any info on dimensions for a beginner forge, but one that would be great for a pretty full range of applications, I would be really very grateful if you could pass it on. Thanks again for the awesome channel mate, and I hope you're going well. Hope to hear back soon Brad 🔥⚒️😊👍
Hey mate, for when you get started, you can go quite small. A drum brake forge is a good size for a beginner. My first forge was actually made out of a square oven tray which I lined with homemade refractory made from plaster of Paris and sand! Perhaps I should do a video on getting started forging on a budget? 🤔
@@ValhallaIronworks absolutely mate! Great idea. I've seen some coal forges that are selling pretty cheap online but they're about the size of a rivet forge which I think is too small. thanks for the info mate and have a great day! 😊👍🔥⚒
Fire, what it do it is quite unusual the coal situation in Australia, the only time I ever managed to regularly get bituminus thermal coal was 30 years ago when I lived in Newcastle, literally right near the loaders and had a neighbour that worked on the docks there. Puts out quite a tremendous amount of heat, but yeah our hardwood charcoal here is probably not going to be beat, course turning it into charcoal will probably burn your backyard down if you're not careful.
haha where's the fun without a little danger, though?
@@ValhallaIronworks Fun and games with sirens I guess, we're kind of fans of that in this country :)
What brand of blower is that as I am using one about a half of that size with mine and It seems to need to be turned much faster than 4 rps which...isnt fun for my arm...
Absolutely. As a general rule, the phyiscally bigger the blower the less you have to crank it. I'm currently in the middle of restoring a massive buffalo blower which can keep a coal forge at forge welding heat with an absolutely lazy turn. I can't wait to have it done. The blower in this video is a Zomax, which are made in India. The newer Zomax models are fairly cheaply made and not particularly great from what I've seen. This particular one is very, very old Zomax blower and is excellent. However, depending on where you live in the world you can often find old Buffalo blowers - if you can track one down, all sizes tend to be wonderful for small forges like mine. I recently did a video on restoring one, too, that you might find interesting!
That's all i have just a Grate Quarter inch plate still going after 7 years since i built my forge no clinker breaker .mind you i only use wood for forging cant get coal in the UK now
One of the best parts of using wood for forging is that it produces no clinker!
I know no dreaded Clinkers ,ive also fitted an ash dump at the bottom of the air pipe just got to fit a Gate valve to control my Hairdryer output @@ValhallaIronworks
wow. finally someone as stupidly interested in "why" as i am... thanks a lot! OK so i got to make my forge in the right size from start then. since i wont make it "smaller" from not filling it up all the way - since the core need to "float around" just on top of the bathtub, wich is the forge. im i correct then? I need to put coal all the way up and thats why i need to make the forge in kindof right size from start, according to my needs. Sorry for my not too perfect english... and thanks for a very good lesson! Love this kindof deep diving lessons. then i can do what i need with the information, not just only copy the guy fronmyoutube ;)
A good rule of thumb is that the 'core' of your fire will float above the mouth of the tuyere about the same distance as the tuyere is wide! Hopefully that helps
Genuine question, what is your source of information on the science side? Is this all just experience or are you an engineer and can point to books? I am always looking for more educational books
I'm an engineer, yes, but as for being able to cite every reference I make, it's all just knowledge I've built up over the last 20 years through my travels. I wouldn't be able to recommend any specific book, as even most textbooks are an absolute slog to read without walking through them with a lesson plan.
Just curious, is that the size 18 or 25 blower? I couldnt quite tell from the video, but im thinkinng 18. Should say near the hose end.
It doesn't say anything on the blower so I'm not sure!
@@ValhallaIronworks thanks!
Muito linda
What is?
just to let you know your red bubble link doesn't work, great vid, john
Thanks mate. Redbubble changed their policies and started ripping off their users, so I closed my store. Still looking for a good replacement.
So mine looks similar to yours but if I spend to much time at the anvil as the fire subsides I get these pops and whomps. How can I eliminate that.
That depends on the fuel you're using and how you're feeding it air. Is it hardwood charcoal? Softwood charcoal? Coke? Coal? Anthracite? Are you using a hand crank blower or an electric blower? Do you have an air gate if it's electric? If you can give me a little more info I may be able to help diagnose your issue!
@@ValhallaIronworks It's a hand crank blower and I use coal. It has a 1" pipe nipple and 3ft of 3" flex pipe that goes into the tuyere by another 1" pipe nipple. It had rained the night before rather hard and I'm thinking it's possibly moisture in the coal that caused it. But it gives a good startle when it pops off like a 12guage shotgun and wasn't real keen on wearing hot coals. It's only when I stop cranking after it's good n hot and wait about 3 min. Then Whomp!
Definitely moisture in your fuel, for sure! Also, your tuyere is very small being only 1" across, which will concentrate your heat in one small space, which means your temperature shifts are going to be more dramatic, so that would exacerbate moisture expansion!
Do you wet charcoal? I've wet coal for decades. Just started using charcoal. Your video is very helpful. I've been going through way too much fuel. This will help me be efficient.
I have wet my charcoal in order to isolate my heat before, but that's the only time I do it!
@@ValhallaIronworks I just played with wetting charcoal this afternoon. I used a garden hand pump sprayer to control fire size. Worked beautifully. I kept my fire about the size of a grapefruit. I used about 1/3-1/2 the fuel I normally use.
Do you think 1 inch diameter pipes are too small for a charcoal forge?
That's pretty small! The size of the pipe will dictate the size of your fire's core. A good rule of thumb is that your core will be more ore less twice the diameter of your inlet pipe, so you'd be looking at only be able to heat around a golf-ball sized piece of your work at any given time with a pipe that small. It'd work! Just, on a small scale.
Thank you very much for replying on such an old video but I have a 2nd question what brand blower do you use? I have been using one similar to yours in the video but its about half the size...not the best for anything really @@ValhallaIronworks
good stuf.
Just to be clear, when you say "coal" you are referring to "lump charcoal" which is hardwood correct? Also I have natural gas here, is this any use?
The video refers to any solid fuel forge. Whether you use coal, charcoal, anthracite, coke, the principles stay the same when it comes to forge design. The only difference is that coke, coal and anthracite need a continuous air source, whereas charcoal can have an intermittent air source.
@@ValhallaIronworks Yes, and I appreciate your explanation of the fire triangle. Also the nature of a neutral burn and what to look for. My question is, will "lump" charcoal be ok ( I'm sure not as good as coke) but will it do. Or is natural gas gonna do? Newbie here I have a Peter Wright 175 lb. anvil and leg vice Coal and coke are gonna be hard for me to find.
Ohh I gotcha. You'll be pleased to know that lump charcoal is my favourite fuel for solid fuel forging. Particularly hardwood lump charcoal. I did a video a while back on why I prefer charcoal over coke and coal that might be worth checking out!
Calorific=?
Can you clarify what you're asking?
If you have a workshop like yours and you are going to use coal, then that is very impractical. I had a shop with three large coal fires and that required a certain infrastructure. With a mini fire like you have you can't work well and you keep messing around. By the way, I find your whole forge very messy and impractical and therefore unprofessional. A gas fire has many advantages and should not be missing in a forge, but if you are a real blacksmith and therefore make real forging work, a coal fire is indispensable. I see your disapproval of a coal fire and the arguments you give as amaturism.
I find it curious that you're happy to cast so much judgement. Try finding more peace in your own work and your own methodology, rather than trying to push it on others. You'll be happier.
@@ValhallaIronworks I have always loved what I did and never went to work but went to the forge. I don't understand why you are making this video. where you break down a blacksmith's fire that has been used by blacksmiths for centuries, thus discouraging new blacksmiths from using it properly. And that was what I was about. It takes some kind of discipline to create beauty. Order and due diligence are two of them. You still have a lot of room for improvement in your workplace. I would be happy with that.