Hey, anybody think this charcoal be alright for forge?

http://www.redheads.com.au/faq.php

I can get plenty of free coal, but the wife has bad asthma which of course the free coal is not so good (thankyou Murphy) .
Just wondering what Aussies are using, charcoal wise, and what do people think of the above charcoal (USA incl.) if it would be ok.
I know its not lump, but it has no binder etc. Where do Aussies buy lump? Thanks all.

If the wife has bad asthma then charcoal is not the answer, she gets close to the forge and there's a hint of the smoke she will have an attack (like mine did)
: (
Time to think about a gas forge, no smoke, no asthma attack. Happy wife.
: )
And a big thanks to Corin who helped me put my forge together. I'm very happy with it.

For a while, some stores sold the extruded charcoal tubes here in the southeast US, but I have not seen it in years. It was highly touted on some of the BBQ forums.

I loved it for grilling and forging, it did not have the stink and clay binder of the briquettes.For forge use, it could also be broken up into nut sized chunks easily, more so than lump charcoal.

Coal smoke is rough on everyone. Asthmatics can't stand to be around wood or kerosene heaters either, so you need to look into propane, my friend.

Their ad says that is a lump charcoal. But that is a moot point where asthma is a consideration. My wife also has asthma and stays away from the forge when lit.

Mark <><

I'm on the left hand side of the country, but, except for a day's stint on a gas forge, I've used nothing but charcoal. We get ours from a bloke out in the country.

That redhead stuff looks okay, but how much is it? How much would a day's forging set you back?

If you've got some acreage, you could try burning your own. Malcolm Paine's book has a good how-to on it.
If I couldn't burn charcoal, I'd go a gas forge, though...

If asthma is a consideration then a gasser is a good option. If that is not a goer then it looks like your wife is not going to be visiting you when you are banging away. I have seen 16kg bags of lump charcoal in Bunners and remember thinking it was an expensive way to forge.

I think I would be looking at a gasser if I was you.

If you need time away from the wife use charcoal, break it up and hammer away. If you want together time go with gas.

im in australia, and burn my own charcoal, mostly ironbark bridge timbers and sleepers, i have access to the local railway navvy yard scrap wood pile, ive never bought charcoal so i cant help there....

Anyways, I bought a bag of the charcoal, seems to work nicely, (expensive though),although i am starting out so dont have much to judge it by, but best of all the missus is not affected by it. Happy wife = Happy life.
Plus my fair weather forge is only 12 feet from next doors clothes line, so no coal smoke in their laundry.
Thanks everyone for your input.

I was demonstrator at the 2005 "Hot Iron Muster" about 30 kliks from Brisbane. My host, Alan Ball, made his own charcoal in a steel box with a hinged lid, about 1 meter long and a half meter square. He used Eucalyptus branches. First, he built a blazing fire in the lower part of the box. Then, he loaded a bunch of branches to the top and closed the lid. Alan loaded it up about sundown, and the next morning we had charcoal for the muster participants.