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Thought my forge was running cold, turns out I was choking the fire the whole time
I spent 2 years blaming my coal for not getting to welding heat, then a guy at the spring hammer-in in Catoosa watched me work for 5 minutes and asked why I kept the fire that shallow. Turns out I was piling fuel on top like a campfire instead of building a deep cave and letting the air come up through the middle. I dug the fire pot out deeper that night, changed nothing else, and hit my first solid weld on a 3/8 inch bar in under an hour. Now I keep a 4 inch deep fire and my coal lasts almost twice as long. What tipped you off that your fire management was off?
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butler.patricia8d ago
Had the same lightbulb moment at a hammer-in last fall, except mine was the air. I was running my hand crank way too fast and blasting the heat right out of the pot. Old timer told me to slow it down and let the fire breathe a bit instead of forcing it. Made a cave shape with the green coal piled around the sides and it was like someone flipped a switch. Went from orange to that nice lemon yellow in the same fire, same coal, nothing else changed. Blew my mind how much of it is just fire shape and air, not the fuel itself.
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