There are no translations available.
Ever since I was forced to stop using my old coal forge and switch fully over to gas (LPG) forges a few years ago at the old place I wanted to go back to coal (coke)...
Why? simply put: I prefer it. I guess it is what I used when I was introduced to the art of pattern welding over a decade ago.
It's simply different from gas - it smells different, it looks a lot different, it handles differently.
And I find it a lot nicer during operation compared to a gas forge - also I believe it is a good bit cheaper in operation, at least here, when used for forge welding a lot.
As at the new place, coal would not have been a problem at all, I thought I'd finally go back to using coke as my main source of heat for forging.
At first I thought I would reuse my old rig - however parts of my old, home-made, coal-forge were missing (the whole lower part) and also the table had been modified to accommodate two gas forges.... it would have been a lot of work to set it up again. Luckily I found a good, sturdy coal forge for a fair price and had it delivered today:

I was seriously happy that just a few days ago I had gotten a 2-ton shop crane... otherwise there would have been no easy way to get the 180kg (~400 pounds) heavy forge from the back of the delivery truck - as the truck had no crane at all.
It's quite a beast, measuring 1m by 1.25m and with it's weight (without blower) it stands very firmly and has a nice touch to it.
Finally the old sturdy blower I have will be put to some serious use again.
Besides moving in the new forge I've almost completed all basic work to the smithy and now the machine shop is still a bit of a mess.
Also the shop finally has a small but working kitchen, complementing the nice coffee bar (which was set up almost the first day).
Aktualisiert (Mittwoch, den 23. Dezember 2009 um 22:50 Uhr)