Coal vs charcoal, I finally switched after 8 years of stubbornness

I always swore by coal because that's what my mentor used in his shop outside Columbus. Last month I watched a guy at a demo get his forge hot in like 15 minutes with charcoal while I was still fighting clinker for an hour. He showed me how he keeps the fire shallow and wide, not piled up like I was doing. Forged three hooks in the same time it took me to do one, and the steel didn't scale as bad either. Anyone else made the jump later in their career and had to relearn their whole fire management?

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brian_smith626d ago

Man that shallow wide fire thing changed everything for me too. Took me way too long to realize I was basically suffocating my own fire by piling it up like a volcano. Now I get way less scale and actually enjoy the heat control instead of fighting it all day.