Pocahontas No. 9

[neg]

I live in a town Called Chiefland in Florida. I've been using Royal oak charcoal when the store has it in stock, which seems to work pretty good for me. But after lots of searching I finally found a source for coal in Williston. It's only fifteen or twenty minutes away from me.  The guy told me it's pocahontas No. 9. Anybody ever forge with it? He said it got too hot for some people and you had to keep it damp with deisel (I dunno if that's true, but I'm not sure I want to be breathing deisel fumes all day).

 

Basically, if anyone's ever used pocahontas No. 9, I'd like to hear what you have to say about it. If I should go load up on some or if I should go to the only other source I can fine that's 2 hours away from me. I'd really appreciate the help. :)

[Grizzer]

Keep it damp with water.  Never use a flammable liquid in a coal forge!

You would use it like any other good quality coal, let it coke up as you work it in to the fire, keep it wetted to stop it burning before it should.

It is a good grade of coal, and it can burn hot, but it doesn't require any special treatment.

[neg]

When he said keep it damp (forgive my probably dumb question), did he mean keep it damp while in storage or damp while it's burning?

[Grizzer]

Damp while it's burning.  No sense keeping it damp in storage, and making things harder on yourself, wet coal is heavy coal :)  Some keep it wet in the bucket they keep by the forge.  Your main coal pile, keep dry.

Basically, you work up your fire, and rather than dump green coal in, you keep coal piled up a bit around the edge of the fire, which you keep damp by sprinkling water over it as you maintain the fire.  It will off-gas, and start turning into coke, which is then fed into the fire, and more green coal is brought up, and wetted.  This cycle keeps your fire fed, without generating a huge amount of smoke.  Something as simple as an old tin can with a handle on it and small holes in the bottom can be used as a sprinkler.  If using a cast iron fire pot, take care not to get a large amount of water into it while hot or it can crack. (Which is why you don't dump water into the forge to put the fire out at the end of the day.)

There are some good threads for fire management for beginners on this forum, you may benefit from doing a quick search.  This page may also be helpful: http://www.beautifuliron.com/thefire.htm

[Grizzer]

Let me clarify, the coal around the edges of the fire is kept damp only, don't wet down your working fire!  :D

[bhardy501]

Great link, It answered questions I had but had not asked yet. I saved it to favorites. Thanks

[neg]

Thank you very much, you answered all my questions. Some even before I asked them. I'ma go see if I can load up on the stuff in the next day or two. :)

[Grizzer]

Yer quite welcome!

I think once you get used to using it, you'll be quite happy with it.

[Glenn]

A couple of links you may enjoy.

 

Coal Coke and Rocks BP0131

 

Good Coal BP0051