The coal I can get locally has a lot of fines in it. Wether I buy it loose or bagged it doesn't matter. Maybe this is standard? In any event it makes for a messy fire pot. So I started sifting it before loading it onto the hearth. I'm guessing most wouldn't bother but to me it seems to make a much cleaner and controllable fire regardless of the wether I wet down the coal or not. I also sift the contents of the fire pot after removing the clinker but before I start a new fire. This also keeps the fire clean and I believe hotter as well. So the question is, does everyone do this? Is there any use for the growing pile of unburned fines?

To me, fines consist of coal powder and nothing bigger than sand grains. When you sift fines, don't you get fines?

Use the fines as a punch lube.

Put the coal fines in a bucket and cover the fines with water. Get a hand full of wet fines and place them on the fire.

Frank, I suppose you would. I am speaking of sifting the coal as bought to remove fines. I use a fine mesh hardware cloth. I have heard that you use anthracite to forge with, is this true?

When I first started forging my coal was all fines. This coal was pit on a pail filled with water. This wet coal was packed around a tapered plug. The polygon was pulled paper and wood shavings were used to start the fire with pieces of coke from the last fire. This wet coal coked and as used up more wet coal was added to the outside of the fire now I use homemade charcoal

I recently started sifting out the fines and using them to build ovens for welding and detail work. I learned about here, and while its not everyones method by any means, and I just started it recently, it doesn work well.

To make a closed fire, start out the same as you would with an open fire, but sift the fines (fine bits of coal and coal dust) from your coal before you start. I use a screen made from quarter-inch hardware cloth (screen), as any larger pieces of coal will hinder the fire building. After you have the fines separated, mix them with enough water to make a paste with the consistency of cake frosting. This slurry will harden and form the “igloo” of the closed fire. When the bed of coal is going well, but not yet to the clean fire stages, place a piece or two of two-by-four lumber on top of the coal bed, in the center of the fire. Then start to heap the slurry over the two-by-four until it is completely covered with a coating about one-and-one-half inch thick, and turn up the blast. The slurry will steam, release impurities (including a lot of sulphur) and harden. And as the wood burns away, it will leave a cavity within which you will be able to forge without difficulty. I have had good results with using two-by-four pieces six to eight inches long. Do not try to stack any more than two pieces, as an igloo cavity any larger will collapse.

Hrisoulas, Jim (2010-04-09). Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way To Perfection (Kindle Locations 746-754). Paladin Press. Kindle Edition.

I don't use anthricite. My coal is bituminous and comes in mostly large chunks (lemon sized to grapefruit to small watermelon). A few fines are mixed in as a result of loading and unloading in shipment.
The big chunks fractionize when they get hot and begin to coke. The coke can then be chipped into the fire.

Nothing to waste. As previously stated, wet them and put on the fire. They will coke up.

Agree with wetting. Many years ago, I bought several tons of coal in OK and it was mostly fines with a few fist sized chunks - nothing was the size of "beans" or "walnuts". I got pretty frustrated trying to make a dry fire with it but was fortunate to have an experienced smith tell me to soak it in water. I put the coal into a five gallon plastic bucket and leave a bit of space on top then add about 2-3 quarts of water. Mix thoroughly with a shovel and let soak a few minutes before adding to the fire. The coal cokes nicely and makes a good fire.

I have used the fines from my coal by putting them in a 5 gal. bucket and mixing water with them to a thick concrete-like consistency. Put them on the side of your fire and as they dry and burn, they coke up very well. Learned this from watching Mark Aspery do a class a few years ago.