Switched from coal to propane at the forge, my arm thanks me

I ran a coal forge for about 12 years and got used to the constant cranking and smoke. Swapped over to a propane setup last spring after my shoulder started barking at me on every job. Anyone else make the jump and find their hammer control got worse before it got better?

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richard11016d ago

Hammer control getting worse sounds like a timing thing, not a fuel thing. You spent a decade learning to read the coal bed, the air blast, the rhythm of raking and feeding. Propane takes all that away, so yeah, your arm is freer but your head is still doing the old dance. Give it a few months and you'll wonder why you ever thought cranking a blower was part of the craft. But if your shoulder was truly barking, maybe the problem wasn't coal, just bad posture or a worn out hammer handle. Plenty of guys run coal into their 70s without swapping.

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