Thread: This forge, or that forge....

I have been looking at numerous forges, and reading as much as I can about them, but am curious as to real world applications and use.

Would any of you care to put forth your ideas, thoughts and experiences with the 3 variables of furnace 1) Coal fired 2) direct gas 3) gas with a blower assembly

Advantages/Disadvantages? Just trying to gain knowledge so I can plan out my stuff.

I think I've already posted my charcoal forge here.
I love charcoal and I am sticking with it, for the following reasons.

1) it can't explode. Gas forges make me nervous.
2) it is cheap.
3) you can build the shape of the fire depending on your need: a hot pit for forging work, a longer and cooler fire for heat treating long pieces, etc. This is harder with gas.
4) It doesn't smell. regular coal can smell. It also doesn't give noxious fumes that irritate skin and lungs, like coal does.

I'm one for the Gas forge variety. I tried coal and it just wasn't for me. Too much focus on firebuilding, keeping it going, getting it right and because of that too little focus on actual forging/heat treat etc.

In short, for me the coal fire was just too much hassle.

Now I have a gas forge, I fire it up and it's ready to go within 1 minute. Which means I can start forging/heat treating almost right away.

It's a little bit more expensive (gas seems to run out faster than coal ;-) ) and makes more noise than a coal forge. However there's less smoke and fumes coming from it.

There's no real right or wrong answer. Just personal preference really.

From charcoal you don't get smoke or fumes, but you do get fireflies. And you need to maintain the fire because if you let it burn too low and throw on fresh charcoal, the temperature difference is too big for the new charcoal and it starts sparkling and exploding if the fire is hot.

And it takes 15 minutes to get a good charcoal fire burning.

Bruno, please note that I didn't say it couldn't be done with Charcoal. I know it can be done just fine. Also note that I didn't specify Charcoal.....I specified coal. I tried charcoal as well, didn't like the fireflies. Also feel like I have less control and due to having to dig the steel into the hot coals I can't really see what's happening to my workpiece.

I know charcoal/coal can be used just fine. I just prefer Gasforges.

Hey Alex,
You mentioned startup time and I originally forgot so I just added that for completeness together with the fireflies, not in an attempt to argue that charcoal is better. That is the one benefit that would swing my choice to gas.

Plus, when you turn off gas, it's out. If you turn off the air supply with coal, the fire fades out as well. With charcoal, the fire keeps going until the last charcoal has burnt up. You can't really extinguish charcoal fire except with water. But water in a hot forge will destroy the forge lining. Those are the main drawbacks.

Ah right. No hard feelings ;-)

Like I said. it's all a matter of preference. Some professional smiths SWEAR by coal, others by charcoal and others by gas. Neither (if you do it right) is really "better" than the other. Just different.

Don't be misstaken though....a gas forge will still take some time to cool down. The ceramic plate in mine actually glows orange for a time after you turn off the gas. You're right in that it doesn't burn gas by then anymore though. But it's still bl##dy hot.

It will take time to cool of course, but there is no active fire anymore.
whereas with charcoal, there is active fire so also a fire hazard.

The main benefit of regular coal seems to be that there is a lot of fuel mass in a dense area. In other words, The coal is consumed rahter slowly. Charcoal otoh burns relatively quickly so you need to feed the fire at relatively short intervals. Of course, gas is the easiest because until the tank is empty, propane supply is continuous and self regulating.

True, but the tank does run out pretty fast (in my exprerience anyway).

Out of curiosity: how long does a tank run?