Alternative Fuels

Don’t be discouraged and not fire up the forge if you have no good coal or coke. Around the world many blacksmiths ply their trade without coal or coke because they can’t afford it, or it is not available.

While living in Nicaragua the ONLY fuel I saw used by blacksmiths (and these are smiths who make their entire living at the forge) was pine bark. In the US there is a manufacturer of forges designed to burn wood, Whitlox Wood-Fired Forge (www.whitloxhomestead.com).

Charcoal is also a choice used a lot by western pioneers, and you can make it yourself. Pine charcoal is the primary fuel in Japan for tempering blades. Also there are induction forges that use electricity to heat a specific portion of the metal, and they are FAST (but costly to buy).

Brake Drum Forges

What about brake drum forges? Here is an article that may be of interest if you are considering a brake drum forge: http://www.beautifuliron.com/forge_brakedrum.htm

Why use coal or coke over using propane?

Good question! They each have their advantages and disadvantages. I use both depending on what I am doing. All three can be used with or without electric power, depending on your forge.

Propane is noisy (you will need to turn up the volume on the boom box), throws a lot of heat out at you (nice feature in the winter), and burns at the same rate whether you have iron in the fire or not. It may or may not get hot enough to weld, and welding flux will damage your refractory over time. But..easy to use, no smoke, and you can have a couple or three pieces in the fire without worry, except for scaling up. You can heat a longer piece, and more evenly, but you will need tongs more, and the slack tub more. Propane forges improperly tuned create more scale. Propane leaks … boom.

Coal is quiet and is not so hot to be around (nice feature in the summer). You can save fuel with coal because when the blower is off or choked, the fire banks down. Crank ‘er up and you have heat again. It will definitely get hot enough to forge weld, but you can also burn up your work fast if you don’t pay attention. Coal is nice if you are working one piece, or two if careful. You can heat shorter sections (with propane you almost always heat up more metal than you need, and must use tongs or resort to the slack tub to cool the held end), and you can heat metal differentially. That is you can heat one side more than the other if need be. Smoke is no problem if you build and maintain your fire properly, but some folks can’t use coal in town due to the smell for neighbors. In which case, you can switch to coke – no smoke, no smell. AND…. coal is traditional for those who care.

Personally, I prefer coal/coke, but the propane forge gets used when I am doing production or things like long twists and tapers.