pairomedicsfish Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Good morning! New guy here. I have been making knives for about a year, using a propane forge and stock removal... I want to pound on some steel now.....I am going to construct a brake drum, or similar, forge. Being in Florida, mail order coal is pretty much my only option.....but, along a rail line near me, I have picked up a bunch of coal. The train that carries it, feeds a coal fired electrical plant nearby. So the question is, is this coal acceptable for starting out? if so, are there any special considerations or things to know, before I fire this thing up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyGeorge Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Not sure where that coal comes from. But I am in Illinois and tried some Illinois coal, because I could get it cheaper. WOW!! After I fired the forge up with that stuff, I could barely see the forge for all the smoke. It had way toooooooo much sulfur in it. I use West Virginia coal and have good results, including forge welding with it. Try some of your coal and see how well it burns. It is going to smoke until you start getting some of it coked. But after it starts to coke, the smoke should drop off a bunch. Hope this helps. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete46 Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Power co. coal is usually anthracite I use it for basic forgeing. It puts out alot of heat,but is not very clean For blades and forge welding I use charcoal. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Power co. coal is usually low grade bituminous used in ground up form. There is some pressure to use lower sulfur coal in power plants but not anthracite here in the USA. (China does use anthracite for power generation IIRC) "Bituminous coal is mined in the Appalachian region, primarily for power generation" Wikipedia "anthracite coal is more expensive than other forms of coal due to its high quality. This is the primary reason that anthracite coal is not used in power plants" tech faq So try it if it works for you; good; if it doesn't you are not out much. What I used to hunt for along the tracks was industrial coke; had a bucket of it for special projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete46 Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 The plant manager at the power plant said it was anthracite ,but he could have been wrong . Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 most all power plants in the u.s.a. use liganite (boiler coal) which has high sulfur, ash, and moisture another name is brown coal. as thomas stated a lot of plants are trying to go to a low sulfer sub-bituminous or bituminous coal which is a lot cleaner. most all blacksmiths coal is a bituminous coal with very low sulfur, ash and moisture. best thing you can do is ask the plant coal buyer where it is from and if they have an analysis of it. or just try some. worst case it will be very dirty, smoke, sparky, stinky coal. matt o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 High BTUs (heat), low sulfur (contaminates) and low ash content (stuff that is not coal) is good. Moisture level in coal can be caused by it being shipped or stored outside in the rain, snow, and weather. To get technical, the moisture will rob some of the heat from the fire as it is vaporized, and turned into steam. But why worry about the moisture level when you are going to sprinkle the fire with water anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Welcome aboard whatever your name is, glad to have you. Why not use your propane forge? It sure saves time and effort hunting up good metallurgical coal or you could call a farrier or two and see where they get their coal. Not all farriers use coal but you'll find out who to call if you're not lucky first call, from whoever you do call. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zach124816 Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 does anyone know where to get coal in the tricity region of Michigan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pairomedicsfish Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 Well, I fired up the coal today. It was a smokey endeavor, to say the least! not a doable optioning a sall shop with no hood..... I fired up the propane forge and did work..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Lodge Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 does anyone know where to get coal in the tricity region of Michigan? There's a place close to Flint called http://streatfuel.com/ They had coal available the last time I checked. Also, check with MABA http://www.miblacksmith.org/ Their supply is over near jackson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.