Thanks for the comments about my forge. It is great to talk to people about coal forges. The kind of heat available with coal, opens up so many other opportunities, not only in metal working, but also in aluminum casting and glass working. Some people commented about my forge not having a lip. It doesn't have a lip because it hasn't been needed. The coal I use ignites and cokes up so fast, that a small reserve is enough. On big heats (or big for me), I coke up reserves over on the side that the slide-on hood is on (see photo), but the un-coked coal is easier to handle. Much of what I have read about coal management did not really apply to the coal that I use. It is A-grade Bituminous coal with a heat value of 15,500 BTU's per pound. The sub-anthracite I've mined isn't hotter, it just burns cleaner. To compare the coals: Usibelli is 7,500 BTU's per pound and Jonesville is 11,000 BTU's per pound. Coal sold by Centaur Forge is around 14,000 BTU's ( the heat value changes how you manage it). Also, there is very little clinker in the coal I use, so the (hard to make) clinker breaker I made for my forge proved useless. Mining your own coal is great fun, but I assure you, in the first loads I brought home, there was a lot of black ROCK that would not burn (I still do bring home rock from time to time).