How To Build Your Own Forge

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Soft coal is abundant and cheap in the southeastern U.S. It burns hot to extremely hot and can be packed together to provide a virtual furnace for welding. Combustion is clean to blah, depending on the coal's quality, and large quantities of smoke are given off when fresh fuel is added to the firebox.

To build a fire with soft coal, crumple up a goodly amount of newspapers, light them, and place them in the bottom of the firebox. Gently crank the blower and pour on the coal. Once lit, the fuel will bum for a long time without attention and is easily revived when it does slow down. After lunch, dinner, or a nap just give the blower handle a few turns and the blaze will flare up as hot as ever.

Coke. I haven't had much experience with this fuel myself . . . but British ironworkers use it, and their work is some of the best you'll find in the field. I do know that coke doesn't smoke, it provides a very hot and clean fire, and it sells for about the same price as coal. Just don't buy large lumps. The small size known as "beans" is what you want for forge work.

Charcoal is hard to obtain even if you can afford it . . . and the price—$90.00 a ton—was almost enough to discourage me from trying the fuel in the first place. When I did make the test I found that the fire gave off large quantities of sparks which were both unbelievably hot and impossible to dodge. There was no smoke, though, and no objectionable odors. As a matter of fact, burning charcoal smells good (a characteristic which has killed various unwary persons who foolishly used the fuel in enclosed rooms and inhaled fatal doses of carbon monoxide along with the fragrance.—MOTHER.). The fire is clean, fair-to-middlin' hot, and burns for a long time without attention. Another plus of charcoal: You wilderness dwellers can make your own.

THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF SAFETY

The following pearls of wisdom have cost me several acres of burned, scraped, and scalded skin. Please read them carefully before you attempt to operate your forge.

[1] Everything in a blacksmith shop is either hot, sharp, or heavy . . . especially hot. The worst burns come not from glowing metal—which almost everyone has brains enough to stay away from—but from pieces that are supposedly cool.

To pick up iron without tongs (unless you know it hasn't been heated) is inviting trouble . . . because once you've grabbed a hot piece, the damage is already done and it's much too late to save yourself by turning loose. Always test metal either by touching it quickly with a wet finger or by holding a hand close enough to feel any heat that may be present. Then decide how to handle the article.

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