Mauro Fiorentini wrote on Sep 6^th, 2011 at 7:02am:


Check out YouTube. That's where I saw the video, but for the life of me I can't remember the title.

Thanks!
I'm on the tube right now 
Greetings,
Mauro.

It warped slightly to the side, but a few quick taps with the hammer before it cooled fixed it.

Kjev wrote on Sep 5^th, 2011 at 9:00am:


May I suggest switching to lump charcoal.
It works just as well (if not better) and you avoid making all those poisonous fumes that come from coal.
Seriously, sulphur fumes will do damage to your lungs and skin and eyes and ruin your clothes. (Sulphur dust turns water to sulphuric acid in the wash. Ugh!)

The best things about lump charcoal is that it's easy and cheep to buy, easy to light and you can Bar-B-Q while you work but I wouldn't do it until you burn out all the old coal dust.
You could even make your own charcoal, butthat's a story for another time.

Kjev wrote on Jan 28^th, 2012 at 11:27am:


I've read of people using briquettes but they report it doesn't work as well as charcoal from wood (natural or lump or "real" are terms I've seen applied).  Briquettes have binders and stuff to slow the burn rate down and that lowers the temperature achieved.

I've used both charcoal and coal and find charcoal does better with a side blast forge while coal isn't particular.  Also, while they have nearly the same amount of energy (BTU's) per POUND, because charcoal is much less dense you'll burn a greater VOLUME of charcoal.  That also means less air is needed for charcoal.  There are some other minor differences like generally very little clinker with charcoal.

If I may again point to iforgeiron.com   A search of that site will produce a lot of information on using charcoal and coal and the differences between the two.

ron