Coal vs propane forge - which one actually works better for beginners?

I got into smithing about 8 months ago and had to pick a forge setup. Everyone told me coal is the real deal because that's what the old guys use. So I went with a coal forge from a guy in Ohio for $150. Took me 2 weeks just to get the fire right without smoking out my whole yard. Then a buddy let me try his propane forge last month and I had a blade hot in 5 minutes flat. The propane was way cleaner and easier to control, but the coal gave me a nicer heat for forge welding on a railroad spike knife I tried. Now I'm stuck with a coal setup I barely use. I'm thinking about switching, but coal is cheaper to run per hour. What did you guys pick when you started out and do you regret it?

3 comments

3 Comments

green.iris9d agoMost Upvoted

And then I read somewhere that the historical blacksmiths actually preferred coke over straight coal anyway because it burns cleaner with less smoke (more like propane in that way). I tried making my own coke once from a guy's YouTube tutorial and it was a disaster, ended up with a fire that smelled like burnt tires for an hour. But honestly, the propane convenience is hard to beat when you're just starting out and don't want to wrestle with fire management every time you want to hammer something. I'd say keep the coal forge for when you do bigger projects like forge welding, then grab a cheap propane setup for everyday bladesmithing.

thea6029d ago

My buddy Mike spent like 3 months building his own coal forge from a brake drum and could never get the heat even, then he tripped over his propane tank hose and knocked a whole pot of chili off the grill. But seriously, I started with propane because my neighbor's yard still has a black circle from his coal days.

emma_baker619d ago

The whole "coke vs coal" thing nobody brings up is how loud coal gets with that blower noise.