aikisho Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I have a question. I just bought an old buffalo coal forge and would like to try my hand at blacksmithing but I am having a heck of a time finding the right coal for my forge here in Alberta Canada. I did locate a coal mine in northern Alberta that will sell me subituminous "C" coal (The coal sold at the mine has the following specs. BTUs per pound : 8000 to 8500Ash Content : Approximately 8%Sulphur : less than 0.05%Moisture : 20 to 25%). I know this is not ideal but my question is, will it work? and if so what should I look for in using it? Thx Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 it will work, but its about half the BTU of the stuff I use for a reference also will be very smokey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sask Mark Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 You should be able to get metallurgical coal from the mines by Elkford in southeast BC. I have heard of a guy melting his firepot with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Countryforge Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 The coal I use is 25% ash real crap but I can still melt steel I add charcoal to get better heat out. All you can do is try it first, with that much moisture you may have to start it off with lump charcoal to get it to burn. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 If you have to you can use most anything---I've seen documentation on forging using peat as the fuel, also buffalo dung. However good coal makes forging a joy rather than a trudge. I plan to buy several hundred pounds of good coal at Quad-State and carry it nearly 1500 miles home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikisho Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thank you all for your advice. As Sask Mark recommended, I have contacted the mine in Elkford in southeast BC to see if they will sell the better coal to me, I'm still waiting to hear back from them so I'll see what happens there. The other mine in Northern Alberta with the subituminous "C" coal says that one tonne is $40, so it might be worth trying some for that price. Thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sask Mark Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Please keep us posted on what Fording in Elkford tells you. There seems to be a void in the coal supply in Alberta and there are few options in Saskatchewan. It might be feasible to do a group buy if Fording will do bulk sales. Or we can all just get induction forges... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 In '94, I demonstrated for the Western Canadian Blacksmiths' Guild at Olds College. We used their facility at Olds, because they have a farrier school set up there. At that time, we used coal. You might check with the school. In '99, I was at Caniron demonstrating in Calgary. They had got decent coal from somewhere. And every year, as part of the Calgary Stampede, they have a huge horseshoeing contest and a smaller blacksmith contest. Many of the farriers use propane forges, but I bet some of them use coal. These aren't specific answers, but might give you some leads. Buena Suerte, Frank Turley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sask Mark Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Good points Mr. Turley. They still use coke in the forges at the Calgary Stampede farrier competitions. The school supplies the Kohlswa anvils and forges to the competitors. When I watched the competition about 5 years ago, all competitors had to use the supplied anvils and coke forges. There is also blacksmith courses offered at NAIT in Edmonton and farrier courses offered in Vermillion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikisho Posted September 15, 2011 Author Share Posted September 15, 2011 Thanks Frank. My father was vice president of Olds College for several years in the 80s. I don't know why I didn't think of them earlier. I already have a call into the Stampede and am waiting to hear back from them. The girl in charge of the farrier competition is away for the week and will call me when she gets back, so heres hopin. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KYBOY Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 You should be able to get metallurgical coal from the mines by Elkford in southeast BC. I have heard of a guy melting his firepot with it. We have a grade of coal around here that is known locally as "Canal Coal"..A lot of us here in coal country spent many hours of our youth picking thru coal piles for house coal...You were taught early not to burn canal coal in a stove..It will burn the bottom right out of a stove..Ive known of pot bellt stoves that literally had the bottom fall right out in the middle of a fire from burning canal coal.. One thing about living in Eastern,Ky. Good metallurgical coal can be anywhere..I get mine 10 minutes from the house.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Shears Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 If you can't find a local source of coal (in Canada) contact Thak ironworks in Floradale, Ontario. He sells 70 lb bags of Virginia coal. On the coal page of his web site Thak also tells you how to order through Home Hardware as well as directly from him. It's handy if you just want to try just one bag (See linl below.) I just moved to Cold Lake, AB from Ontario. I brought tools and an anvil with me, but still have to assemble a gas forge and anvil stand.http://thak.ca/coal.html Don Shears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonS Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Hello Aikisho, I am not sure where you are located, but I am in Edmonton. We have been using coal from the Dodds Coal Mine near Tofield, Alberta in our Western Canadian Blacksmiths Guild shop near Leduc. This might be the same sub-bituminous coal that you referred to. (We ran out of metalurgical coal this spring.) This stuff works OK for about the first half hour, and then you have to remove the large clinker that develops. It might not be the percent ash content that is the problem, but the large amount of coal that you have to feed into the firepot in order to get enough heat. As mentioned earlier, this gets a bit tedious, but it works - even well enough for a forge weld if you have a clean fire. This month we are switching over to the real smithing coal that Home Hardware sells. (They buy it from Thak). Around Edmonton, the only Home Hardware store that knows the ordering process is the one in Sherwood Park. I tried contacting Cardinal River Coal, Gregg River Coal and Grande Cache Coal, and all you get is office people who are not interested in selling small quantities. They only deal in unit trains going to the Pacific coast. Based on the Alberta Research Council reports, the only good smithing coal is in Cadomin (Luscar Mine), Grande Cache and around the Crowsnest Pass area (including Sparwood, Elkford B.C.) There is/was anthracite in the Cascade area near Banff but I don't know if there is a mine there anymore. Anything east of these locations is low grade bituminous or sub-bituminous domestic heating coal. We have not given up in our quest for coal. If we find a cooperative source, we will list it on our wcbg.ca website. Don Sinclaire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomhw Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 When I started smithing a lot I had lots of trouble and expense getting good coal. I finally locaded a pile of coal in the woods and traded a set of stainless steel spurs I made for all of it. It was nasty stuff- high sulfer, lots of shale, and lots of dirt. I had to clean giant clinkers out of the fire every few heats and I could not weld in it. But it did coke and it did get hot. I used it for common forging and saved the high grade stuff for welding and particular jobs. The stuff was fuel for the logging tram engines for logging long leaf pine in the first decades of the last century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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