It Stinks

[Rosco]

After four years of forging with gas, I bought a coal forge... a Centaur unit with hood and variable speed blower. It's really well built and assembled easily.

Sunday morning I drove 60 miles to a hardware store that sells bituminous coal where I purchased 300 lbs. Having read some books and articles and watched a few videos, I figured I was ready to fire it up. I setup out in the driveway. Everything went fine until I started to move the coal into the startup fire of oak chunks and charcoal. At that point, what I knew in the back of my mind and became immediately aware of was a billowing rise of acrid green smoke. Within minutes my wife laughingly yelled out the upstairs window, "YOU STINK".

As I stood and watched the smoke drift down the street on a beautiful Sunday afternoon I realized that I faced a challenge... getting the fire to a clean burning state without having one of my neighbors call the fire department or DEP. I knew that the coal was fairly wet, (the hardware owner had left the entire pallet sitting out uncovered through several days of rain) and that it takes a bit of time for the coal to work down to coke, but I wasn't quite prepared for the very smelly impact of that transition.

I've stood the bags up on end out in the sun in hope that they'll lose some of the moisture. Is there any way to minimize either the amount of smoke or the length of time that the coal produces it?

There's only so much that can be done... I know. It's an older technology and people

[DKForge]

Rosco, you have now experienced what many of us face when we light up our coal forge in the neighborhoods we live in. It is an issue that can be aggravated or accepted by the neighbors you have and your relationship with them. Here are some suggestions from past posts.

1. Taller stack and if you have trees in your yard get out amongst them as they will help diffuse and filter the smoke and odor.
2. Give your neighbors hand forged gifts and demos of what you are doing to hopefully get them on your side.
3. If the fire dept. is called do the same as #2
4. Run your forge when others are less likely to be around or outside.
5. Move to the country
6. Sell your coal and buy coke instead

I am sure others will jump in if other suggestions are available.

My personal method is I am lucky enough to work out of my home so I generally light up in the middle of the day during the week when not many are around.

As to the smell I can't say much about that cuz to me there is nothing like the smell of a coal fire to make me smile and think about how lucky I am to be a blacksmith.

[Walking Dog]

Rosco - Here are some additional thoughts . . .

After your first fire, save the coked-up coal for starting the next fire. There will be less smoke.

Draw the green coal into the fire gradually as needed, working it in from the sides. Never dump it onto the fire directly.

At start up, poke an air hole into the coal pile right above the air grate to let flame come up. It will tend to burn up some of what would have been smoke.

Try another source of coal. There is a lot of variation in coal and its tendency to smoke.

[jimbob]

poke a hole in the mass that is on the fire with the blower on; when you get a flame the smoke should die down.
might take a day or so to get the smell in your blood...by that time your be hooked like the rest of us! won't be a problem then!

[wolfshieldrx]

Welcome to the dark side...bart

[Rosco]

Appreciate the input.

There are a few things suggested that I can work with, along with my fire handling skills. I hadn

[Rosco]

No offense intended, Sir.

I was speaking largely as an advocate of the general (albeit less attuned) public… children, dandies, little old ladies and such, who have been denied the opportunity to cultivate a more worldly appreciation for the olfactory nuances of artfully forming hot steel. Please accept my apologies for their shortcomings and my insensitive use of adjectives.

[jimbob]

sounds like your hooked already

[Rodney Skinner]

rosco,

I had the same experience when I fired up my coal forge for the first time.

Pure panic as to what the neighbors etc were going to say or do!

Walking Dog's suggestions are spot on. I no longer have the green wall of death floating down the street now that I save coke from previous fires. A tall flue was a big help also.

have fun!

[Drewed]

I use a propane torch to get the coal going quickly. kind of cheating, but it helps.

[dickb]

After four years of forging with gas, I bought a coal forge... a Centaur unit with hood and variable speed blower. It's really well built and assembled easily.

Sunday morning I drove 60 miles to a hardware store that sells bituminous coal where I purchased 300 lbs. Having read some books and articles and watched a few videos, I figured I was ready to fire it up. I setup out in the driveway. Everything went fine until I started to move the coal into the startup fire of oak chunks and charcoal. At that point, what I knew in the back of my mind and became immediately aware of was a billowing rise of acrid green smoke. Within minutes my wife laughingly yelled out the upstairs window, "YOU STINK".

As I stood and watched the smoke drift down the street on a beautiful Sunday afternoon I realized that I faced a challenge... getting the fire to a clean burning state without having one of my neighbors call the fire department or DEP. I knew that the coal was fairly wet, (the hardware owner had left the entire pallet sitting out uncovered through several days of rain) and that it takes a bit of time for the coal to work down to coke, but I wasn't quite prepared for the very smelly impact of that transition.

I've stood the bags up on end out in the sun in hope that they'll lose some of the moisture. Is there any way to minimize either the amount of smoke or the length of time that the coal produces it?

There's only so much that can be done... I know. It's an older technology and people’s tolerance for things like sulfur smoke in their back yards isn't what it used to be. Still, I hate to think I'll have to wait for hammer meets or demo days out in an open rural field to use my coal forge. No doubt a taller smoke stack and a better managed draft will help reduce the neighbor-abuse aspects, but I'm curious to know if I can prep the coal or set my fire up in any way that will contribute to a cleaner initial burn. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'd suggest you switch to Anthracite coal. It doesn't smoke or smell and has a higher BTU rating than soft (bituminous) coal . It burns with zero smoke or smell.


You can buy it at Cornwall Coal and Supply
22 Station Rd
Cornwall, NY 12518
(845) 534-3650 They have a website at Cornwall Coal & Supply Co. Inc.

It's pretty cheap, around seven dollars and fifty cents per fifty pound sack and comes in two sizes, Pea size and Nut size. I'm using the Pea size, it's smaller, but I have also used the larger (nut) size. You might try a bag or two of each.

Good Luck with it.

dick B Edited July 13, 2009 by dickb

[dickb]

You could switch to anthracite coal.
It's available from ornwall Coal and supply
They are located at :
22 Station Rd
Cornwall, NY 12518
(845) 534-3650

[bigfootnampa]

I save the shavings from my drawknife work on the shaving horse for fire starter. As I make lots of handles for my tools (and other things too) there are always plenty here. I save them in old feed bags. I mix in a few small chunks of offcut wood to get a quick bed of coals. When I shut down my forge I put a sprinkler can or two of water on the hot coals to cool the fire and save more coke for the next fire. If you don't have a handy source of wood shavings to recycle try some natural (real wood) charcoal. You can get it at the big boxes or groceries even hardware stores. Just use a little to get your coal going when you are starting up... especially if you are short on coke.

In short, use some kindling of wood or charcoal to get a flame going and feed the coal in slowly from the sides. Keep a nice flame until you get a good glowing bed of embers.

I like my coal damp but when it is WET it takes longer to get the fire cooking and I use more kindling.

[johnptc]

dump the coal and use coke :)

[arftist]

I use an oxy-fuel torch, but another thing you can do is make a draft diverter that can swing out of the way once the fire cleans up. Pipe it so your blower draws the offensive fumes back through the tyere.

[Archie Zietman]

It might be a bit of a schlep, but Williams Coal in Braintree MA supplies actual "blacksmith coal" to most of the blacksmiths in New England. I just got 400 lbs of the stuff, and it has very little smoke, and little clinker. You might try them.
Chip, the coal guy, is real nice.

[JNewman]

I am often amazed at hammer ins by how much smoke many guys manage to put out. If you bring the coal in slowly and use the coke from your previous fire or use some wood you can keep the smoke to a minimum. If you have to add a lot of green coal you should poke a hole as someone posted above. As well you will have to find the right amount of air blast so the smoke burns, to much air and you end up with that giant was of smoke, you have to be a little patient to coke up the coal if you want to avoid the smoke. I find feathering the blower on and off rather than adjusting it works best for me while getting the fire going.

[Rob Browne]

When starting your fire make sure you get a good cheery wood fire going then surround this with your coke form the previous fire and surround that with your raw coal. Keep the thop open so the flames can flash off any dense smoke and SLOWLY pull the coke in. By the time the coke is burning properly the coal will be coking up and the dense smoke will not occur.

You're hooked :)

[CurlyGeorge]

Rosco, as far as drying your coal, don't worry about it. This past weekend we had a rain storm during the night and the coal and coke in the forge were absolutely soaked. I started a small wood fire in the center, started pulling in the coke, packed coal around the outside of the coke and the stuff burned just fine. Coal does not have to be dry to burn. And wet coal doesn't smoke any more than dry. I was using the forge cart shown by my name and in my gallery. :D

[Rob Browne]

Another thing about wet coal. We purposely wet the coal to stop it burning too quickly and to help with the coking process.

[Rosco]

Well, I got just what I’d hope to get and that’s a quick education on burning coal. It’s a real supportive crew here and I appreciate it.

Last night I made up a couple of cubic feet of charcoal and I’ll use that to get a good strong sustained fire going to burn off the gasses and get some coke forming. The coal bags say ‘Blacksmiths Coal, Mahanoy, PA.’ so I’m pretty sure I’ve got the right stuff. Buying coke in my area is a bit cost-prohibitive (the shipping expense is more than the price per bag), but with the help I’ve received here I think I’ll have a more successful second go at it.

It sounds like I should find a pump spray bottle for water to help manage the process and maybe add another length of stack pipe on the hood. We’ve got an antique machinery show this weekend in the next town over and there are always one or two members from the New England Blacksmith’s Association there. I think I’m primed to pick their brains a little.

Thanks.
Ross

[CurlyGeorge]

Ask one of those guys at the antique show to show you how to make a water can with a handle and with small holes in the top of one side, for putting water on your fire to control it. I'm sure that they'll have something like that with them. Good luck. And BTW welcome to IFI. :)

[sawyer04]

The first time I fired my gas forge I wondered if she was going to blow, most racket I ever heard out of a forge.

[Rosco]

The constant roar is one of the reasons I decided to add a coal forge as an option. A gas forge pushes a lot of heat out just while it

[Andrew of Seattle]

THANK YOU!  11years later on this thread, and I had to make an account to say just how beautifully you have answered my questions, anticipated (and empathized with) my concerns, and gave me hope in using grandpa's old horseshoe open forge.   I lit it up again the other night and was just aghast watching it putrify my neighborhood.   I'll try these.  Very good to know about wet coal being an actual benefit, not problem.  To save/use the coke, to pull in from the sides, to make the hole over the blower.  

Bless you

~Andrew