Picked Up New Coal Today

[CurlyGeorge]

Well, I've been trying to find a new coal supplier, since the other supplier quit carrying smithing coal. I finally located one that's about 120 miles from the house. He sent a 50 pound bag down for me to try out to see if I'd like it, before buying more. It worked out just fine. So today I made the trip and picked up 10 bags for me and 4 for the historic site that I work at. He gave me a card with it's Lab Analysis on it. The mine said that it is a mixture of "Jawbone & Wit of Kennedy" coal. The mine is located in Virginia, right near the West Virginia state line. Has anybody ever heard of these types of coal? It burns well, with not a large amount of smoke and it heats up very well. The Lab Analysis is listed below.

%Moisture= 2.91
%Ash= 8.72
%Sulfur= 0.88
%Volatile= 20.77
Fixed Carbon=67.6
BTU/lb= 13,950
MAF BTU= 15,786
FSI= 8.5

I'll be the first to say that this is pretty much Greek to me. Anybody got an opinion on the analysis? Oh yeah. The price is $345/Ton bulk or (as I paid), $14.00/50lb bag. I didn't have room for a bunch of bulk. That's why I went with the bags.

[Aaron J. Cergol]

Howdy George,

that wouldn't happen to be 120 miles north of you would it? I still have about 1.5 tons of coal in reserves, but I suspect it'll be pretty well diminished by the end of this summer, so I'll be looking for a new supplier. If they are north, I'd certainly love their contact info if you wouldn't mind.

Thanks,

Aaron

EDIT-what size is this coal? Also, how well does it coke?

[CurlyGeorge]

Hey Aaron. Yep. He's just south of I-80 in Streator, ILL. The coal is from about 1/2" up to maybe 1-1 1/4" and it cokes real well for me. His contact info is listed below, in case anyone else is interested. Good to hear from you.

Gary Riss, Missal Farmers Grain Co, Streator, ILL. Ph- 815-672-2634

[Glenn]

Coal originated from ancient plants that flourished in swamp-like environments millions of years ago. In Virginia, coal was formed mainly during the Carboniferous period of the Earth's history, 280 to 360 million years ago. There are also coalbeds in Virginia that were formed during the Triassic period, 205 to 245 million years ago.

The Southwest Virginia coalfield occupies an area of approximately 1520 square miles, contains nearly all of Virginia's bituminous coal reserves, and is currently the source of all the State's coal production. Virginia's coal is produced from seven counties: Wise, Dickenson, Lee, Buchanan, Russell, Scott, and Tazewell. However, 85% of the coal produced comes from the counties of Wise, Dickenson and Buchanan.

Fifty-seven discrete coalbeds occur within an 800 to 5150-foot stratigraphic interval across the Southwest Virginia Coalfield. Coal is mined from nearly 40 coalbeds, which are from 4-5' thick. The four principal commercial coalbeds are the Pocahontas No. 3, Jawbone, Splash Dam, and Dorchester. The Pocahontas No. 3 is an important source of metallurgical grade coal and ranks as one of the major economic coalbeds in the United States. Other important Virginia commercial coalbeds are the Low Splint, Taggart, Imboden, Clintwood, Upper Banner, Lower Banner, Kennedy, Raven and Tiller.

Jawbone Coal Seam
Second column, second line up, Jawbone, Raven, Kennedy are all together, one on top of the other seams.

[CurlyGeorge]

Well, just finished up a weekend of demos and used the new coal. I can report that it has very few clinkers in it. But it did produce more ash than the Pocahantis coal that I have been using. It worked well for forge welds on the chain links and general forgeing. So I am happy with it. I'm really glad that I found a new coal supplier. :D

[Aaron J. Cergol]

George,

I'm happy to hear the new coal is working out for you. Thanks for the contact, I'll be in touch with him shortly.

Aaron

[thingmaker3]

%Moisture= 2.91
%Ash= 8.72
%Sulfur= 0.88
%Volatile= 20.77
Fixed Carbon=67.6
BTU/lb= 13,950
MAF BTU= 15,786
FSI= 8.5

I'll be the first to say that this is pretty much Greek to me. Anybody got an opinion on the analysis?

You want the moisture, ash, sulfur, and volatiles to be as low as you can get them. You want fixed carbon and BTU/lb to be as high as possible.

Your coal is not the best, but it should be good enough.

[CurlyGeorge]

Thingmaker, thanks for the response. Like I said, the analysis is Greek to me. Thanks for explaining what to look for. This has more ash than I'm used to. But otherwise it seemed to do everything that I needed it to do. :)