Blacksmith Jim Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Howdy guys, I was kinda curious to get some input from a lot of different smiths.. How much fuel are you burning? What kinds of fuel are you using? Are you able to pick up a year's supply at a time? How much do you normally get when purchasing? Is it hard to find a good source near you? I'm mostly curious about solid fuels, coal, coke, etc.. But I could be curious about how that compares to gas. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayco Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 When I saw this post, I remembered that the subject had come up before. A start to the conversation:http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/how-much-coal-6029/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith Jim Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 Jayco, thanks for finding and posting that link! It is largely what I am looking for, although I would love hearing more people reporting on their usage. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 I have a small forge based on a plough disk. I mainly do work with small section metal and get about three hours out of half a standard (10 litre) bucket of coal. If I am doing a lot of welding or the sections of the metal go up then the consumption goes up accordingly but not to much more than 3/4 a bucket. I think going back to the hand cranker is a big help here, I used to burn lots more with the blower. As for how much I get at a time. I take the trailer to the coal mine and get about 700kg for $130 last time. This lasts me a looooooong time. As for how hard it is to find a source. We have lots of coal mines near us but the hard bit is to talk yourself onto the loading area. You in your little 4WD and trailer are a hassle amoung those 50 tonne trucks and it takes a bit of organising but it is worth it. Before going this way I was paying $30 for a 40kg bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip in china Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I used to use coal but now have changed over to cake as I have found it to be better in my redesigned forge. A bag of coke will last a couple of days with the forge running continuously. I have the option of burning charcoal but do that only if I am desperate as the sparks are troublesome and also you need such a big volume to get anything done. Coal is the only fuel for which I have to pay thanks to the generosity of the owner of this place. As for a list of coal suppliers mine is on Xu Jia Lu about 1/2 mile outside of the 2nd ring road. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
781 Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I use home made charcoal from 2X 4s A lt probably depends on how big your forge firepot is and what you are forging but it appears I use about 30 gallon trash barrel of charcoal a day. I am using an electric blower. Every heat needs at least a handfull of charcoal. I dont seperate hardwood from softwood what every the pallet was made of is good enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reid Neilsen Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I run a professional forge part time and I burn almost exclusively coal. I was lucky enough to find a guy not too far from me that sells slack coal by the ton. I don't have a big truck, so I pay a landscaping company with a dump triuck to haul me a few tons at a time. I pay about $100/ton for the coal and about $75 for the hauling. I usually get about 3 tons(6400 lbs last time) This usually lasts me the better part of a year. It isnt the best quality, but it burns hot, if not very clean. As far as my daily usage, I probably burn a couple of coal hod's worth at least a day, but I don't do a whole lot of welding or making pattern welded blades or anything like that. I am pretty conservative with my fuel and try to always shut off the blower when not heating, use and re-use as much as possible until it is tuly ash and no longer useable etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBrann Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I have a small forge with a vacuum cleaner on a rheostat, and use 7 to 10 pounds in 4 hours, I get 40 pound bags, and get about 4 8 hour days per bag unless I am doing a lot of big heating or welding. I can buy from 1 bag to a pallet, 50 bags, at $9.70 us per bag, I usually buy 10 at a time, once a year, I dont get to work as much as I would like to. I also get broken bags of heating coal from the feed store for free, I'm the only dummy that will take them. I'll take 1 part heating coal (anthracite) to 2 parts blacksmith coal, and that make a really hot clean fire for welding. but it does clinker fast, and go out easily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jymm Hoffman Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I was using about 3 to 4 tons of coal a year in the early 1990's. I switched to propane in 1993. Not what my consumption of propane was, but my production increased drastically, as well as sales because I had more stuff to sell. I have not burned coal in my shop since. Last summer I did a pre-buy and payments on a monthly budget. Just paid the last $300.00 payment (10 months.) I went through my 1,000 gallons and will set up another pre- buy of at least 1,000 to 1,200 gallons. Price is dropping for propane finally. It will probably cost me around $2.25 to $2.50 per gallon. Propane did not do well on the pre-buy system this time, normally it is way ahead of the game. I have bee seriously considering Grant's induction machine, for at least summer work. My forge heats my shop nicely, all year round. However, there are some things that the propane will do better than the induction, especially when I am teaching students in the winter time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Roy Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I have an average sized forge with an electric blower which is rheostat controlled and there is a shutoff gate on the blower. I shut the gate when I am not actively heating iron and if I will not be forging for a while I shut off the blower and bank the coal. I haven't really stopped to figure out my fuel consumption but I would guess that if I worked both days on a weekend I might use 12 pounds or maybe a little more. Most of my work is of small bar stock and I don't do much welding (yet). I buy my coal in 50# bags and paid $14.00/bag the last time. It's pretty good blacksmithing coal. I usually get 200-300# at a time and that holds me for a while. I used about 600# last year working alternate weekends and some of that was cut back due to a nasty "tennis elbow" issue. Lately I have been spending more time in the shop since the economic conditions nationally caused a layoff at work. I'm waiting for the stimulus package to kick in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 I use coke and have a vacumm cleaner as a blower with 2 air gates (one for fine tuning the fire) and utilise a brake drum (large off a 4x4) as a fire pot. I found when I 1st fired up the forge that I was burning a lot of coke until I introduced the 2nd airgate and allowed the excess air to be diverted (pvc stormwater gate) this reduced both airflow and noise from the air escaping from a larger exit. My fires now are very controllable in regards to size /heat. Coke I can get quite plentiful and cheap if bought in bulk ie trailer load. Not quite sure what I paid as it was some time ago but it was around $200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new guy Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 i use wood (pine oak, any wood) and i burn about 10 or 15 lbs and hour. not the best fire but considering it is wood, that is not a problem. i am at the forge evvvery other day so i get about 500lbs to last two or 3 weeks. it is free from the family wood pile so that helps with my costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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