Recently while working, I discovered a fairly large amount of coal in a boiler room. The owner said I could take it all as they have no need of it. There is about a Yard of it down there.
It's been there for 50+ years. It's dry and hard and when fractured, is as shiny as glass. I'm thinking Anthracite here.
Now, will sitting that long in a dry environment affect it at all?

As it is formed over a very long time underground, and geolically speaking, it has sat there for a very short time, I can't imagine how it could be adversly effected, but bunker coal sucks as fuel for forging, in my opinion, so be sure what you are getting.

Anthracite is no use for forging.

Anthracite CAN be used for forging, that is what I use because I get it free. It does however come with some drawbacks.

1. Very Stinky
2 Clinkers
3. If it is Top Seam coal, it can actually add scale to your project.

If it is free, I would give it a shot, Anthracite varies from vein to vein. You could take a small bucket home and give it a shot.

Mine is #2 Stinkohantas, other than smell and clinkers, it does coke off and produce more than enough heat. It is a bear to forge weld with, due to the impurities in it, but it can be done, it will however soil a damascus bar before you can get a good stick.

If it has been kept dry it should be fine, you could always give some to your friends who have no coal, or stuff childrens stockings at Christmas.

That long term storage should not hurt it. Only if other stuff got in/on it to contaminate it.

Heating anthracite coal does vary a lot. One other thing with some varieties is the oil that bubbles out of it. That does help bond it together, but does leave some oily residue on your work. And more clinkers.

You can use it for forging. The heat will be different and a little less. But that can be adjusted for. It also can be mixed in to help extend your good coal supply. It all depends upon the work you are doing.

And you could always re-sell it to some of the fancy landscapers. Some have started using stoker coal instead of gravel for landscaping around plants. They love that black shiny look!

Mikey

Well I just got back from my first trip out there (only a 10 minute drive) with the 5, 5gallon buckets I'm using to transport the stuff.
It looks good but the proof will be in the pudding.
5 buckets of coal. - Blacksmith Photo Gallery
That's the first of it.
And here is a really big chunk that I found in the pile.
coal_002 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

I recently scored a pick-up load of old heating coal for a very good price... free. It is all 1" to pea sized; no big chunks.

I have found it to be only slightly nastier than the good stuff; I have welded with it. But it is smokey when you burn it green and it is prone to clinker.

One thing that you might want to consider is to somehow wash it down before you use it. Normally the fines in coal from a coal yard are going to be... well, coal. But I've notice that a lot of this old stored heating coal can have a lot of junk in it like small bits of concrete and sand. Any of this junk is gonna go straight to clinker.

Also, I have seen heating coal that is black and glassy and some that is a dull black. The dull colored stuff can actually have streaks of sulfer showing in it. The shiney stuff seems to burn cleaner and hotter.

Given the choice, I would definitely choose bituminous, but I'm extremely cheap, so I'll make do with the free stuff for a while.

Don

Can't tell anything by your pics. Even if we could see it clearly there's only one real test and that's light it up and see.

Some anthracite works just fine in the forge just like some bituminous is worthless in the forge. It's just a general rule of thumb that bituminous is better, not an absolute. It may take some different handling to work but that's true of most coal, it all has it's own personality.

Light it up and let us know.

Frosty

thats pretty much all i use cuz i get it free... its been sitting in the outdoors for about 10 years but it still gets the job done and thats all i need

seeing as how it took 10's of millions of years to form the coal, a century or two laying around outside won't hurt it at all......worst case you'd have to wash it off before putting it in the forge.

I see that there are different qualities too in anthracite. I use it for forging and forge welding since 3 years or so. Mine comes from pensylvania and doesn't stink or very very little (a lot less than bituminous). It produces less smoke than charcoal and heat a lot. It is also cheap where I live in Canada.

The only disadvantages that I found are:
1- It does more clinkers than bituminous coal
2- If you stop the air, the fire will go down very fast (15 min and you have to light it again)
3- It doesn't coke. It will change aspect from black to grey white but doesn't stick together to form a dome