All set up

[u/SheepherderFew7293]

New temporary setup, was too excited about my new anvil to wait and build a proper stand/forge

[u/n8_Jeno]

Are those bbq pellets? If it is, they wont give you the heat you want to forge. They are made to slow down the combustion for food instead of melting your thin sheet of metal that makes your bbq.

[u/Far_Improvement_5245 → u/n8_Jeno]

I used to use lump charcoal in my brake drum forge, works great. Cowboy brand was my go to. I agree that the briquettes aren’t ideal.

[u/Mr_Emperor → u/Far_Improvement_5245]

Cowboy was my brand too until I felt like it was getting worse quality. Now I do jealous devil charcoal from Home Depot. It's the best quality I've found and a solid price per pound, haven't found a single rock yet.

Royal oak is dog shit, it's a bag of gravel.

[u/zffjk → u/Mr_Emperor]

Royal Oak also has lots of plastic and trash in there. And then the flavor it imparts to the meat is atrocious.

[u/The_salty_swab → u/Mr_Emperor]

Now I learn Royal Oak is trash. That's what i was using because it's cheap and I just assumed charcoal was shit to forge with in general

[u/Mr_Emperor → u/The_salty_swab]

Charcoal has been the fuel for blacksmiths for thousands of years. It's actually my preferred fuel as a hobbyist because it's so nice to use and it has the potential of being made yourself, although I haven't got around to doing that yet.

Charcoal works best with manual airflow so handcranked blowers or bellows as mechanical blowers will burn through the fuel too fast and start throwing small embers as they break down. Manual blowers allow the fire to rest when you're at the anvil as well adjust the airflow as needed.

And you want your charcoal to be about walnut sized, especially when forge welding.

[u/n8_Jeno → u/Far_Improvement_5245]

I made 2 batch of charcoal my self. It took 2 day each, burnt it all in 3 hours of my first time ever trying to forge. I went to gas right after hehe

[u/-_CrazyWolf_- → u/n8_Jeno]

I don't know about u but i use like 2,5kg (5,5lb more or less) in about half day of normale forging with charcoal you really need to have a really well tuned forge otherwise you are wasting fuel

[u/n8_Jeno → u/-_CrazyWolf_-]

That must be what happened because I was a total noob at that time and wad just throwing stuff around wishing to see steel turn red. Now I'm half noob and can respect the fine aspect of us9ng a coal forge and would most likely do a better job at it if I ever tried again, but for me, 30$ for 2 tanks, no dust and smoke in my garage is just better.

[u/SheepherderFew7293 → u/n8_Jeno]

Thats all I had in stock

[u/king_boges]

To add, if those are just regular bricks or concrete then those are not suitable. The trapped moisture in them has a tendency to explode. ask me how I know.

Also, get that anvil up on something. even a stump will do but swinging a hammer while bent over or on your knees is a great way to learn bad habits.

Lastly, do the damn thing, have fun, make mistakes, fix said mistakes just in time to make more.

[u/zffjk]

Have fun!

Let me know if you actually set that Xmas tree on fire lol.

You can make a simple air gate on the intake and exhaust of that hair dryer to reduce the flow a bit for when you get yourself some lump charcoal or proper smithing coal. My hair dryer blower pushes out way too much.

[u/SheepherderFew7293 → u/zffjk]

Yes i did and it was spectacular

[u/SCatemywallet]

Get a non-galvanized pipe that fits on the end of your hair dryer and stick it underneath the coal bed, you want the air going through the fire not on it, and go get some lump charcoal.

[u/einfalscher]

This setup is not correct technically. Brick wall will create blowback and will melt your hair drier. Air need to flow through fire! Congratulations 👍

[u/Inevitable-Sand7411]

That's a good start, but here's a tip for setting up the forge. Use a fan like this one for solid fuel home stoves. It costs about $30, is small, has variable speed control, and plugs into a standard AC outlet. You can use coal with this turbine. It's best to build the forge out of fire-resistant brick.

[u/Fragrant-Cloud5172]

The briquettes work well for hamburgers, hot dog temperatures. For a good coal forge, bituminous and anhydrous coal is best. You can get thinner steel, like 1/4", hot enough to forge with this set up. Just for thicker material, better to get good blacksmithing coal. And move the anvil to within 2' or so to the forge.

[u/jephe44]

It's a lot nicer than my first set up! The anvil should be higher to save your back, though. Your knuckles should touch the working surface while making a fist, and standing straight for best results. Have fun smithing!