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Changed my mind about coal forges after watching a guy in Tulsa run one for 4 hours
I always figured coal was dirty and hard to control, so I stuck with my propane forge for the 3 years I've been hammering. Then I watched a guy at a hammer-in in Tulsa run a coal forge for 4 hours straight and his fire stayed clean the whole time because he kept the coal banked and wet around the edges. Is it worth switching if I'm mostly doing small knives and hooks, or should I just stick with gas for the shop?
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blair62625d ago
Four hours at a hammer-in is a show, not a work day. The guy could baby that fire because he had nothing else going on, but in your own shop you're grinding, quenching, and yapping with whoever stops by, and coal doesn't care about your attention span. Banking and wetting the coal keeps the smoke down but it also means constant tending, plus you've got clinker to deal with and a real chimney or you'll eat smoke all winter. For small knives and hooks, gas does everything you need, so unless you just want to play with fire, that's a lot of hassle for the same steel.
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