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PSA: My coal forge grate collapsed mid-project and I nearly lost a knife
I fired up my forge last Tuesday after a month off, loaded some 1095 for a camp knife, and about 20 minutes in the grate just buckled right under the firepot. Made this loud groan then dropped half the coal into the ash dump. Turns out I had been ignoring hairline cracks in the cast iron for months, thinking they were just surface stuff. I spent the next 2 hours fishing hot steel out of the ash with tongs and rigging a temporary grate from rebar. Has anyone else dealt with a forge firepot failure like that or am I the only one who got complacent?
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