What kind of coal is this?

[PaulKrzysz]

I Have a deal in the works for some coal. A man is offering me 60kg (130lbs) of coal for $20. The problem is I do not know what kind of coal this is. How can I tell good blacksmith coal from bad coal? He says he got it from his neighbors garage, the neighbor died a few years ago. I am getting it on Friday. I live in Toronto, Ontario.

[Steve Sells]

hard to tell from the photo but the price is good.  If it burns you will know

[ThomasPowers]

It's quite easy to tell good coal from bad---you try it out! A "test drive" should show you how it cokes up, how much clinker it produces, how much sulfur smoke, etc. Of course it helps to know what good coal is like before you start so you have something to compare it to.

[Frosty]

It's a decent price and even if it's not much good in the forge it'll be fine in a stove to take the chill off in the morning.

 

Let us know how it works once you give it a try.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[KYBOY]

You'll pretty much have to try it..On a side note here in eastern, ky where we have like third and fourth generation coal miners Ive seen old men who could grade coal  like a geologist..There are seams of what we locals call "Canal coal"..It has a certain look and texture that you can recognize..It burns very hot and with very little smoke.Very hard,glassy black and isnt laminated like a lot of coal.People would mix it with regular coal to burn because it would burn hot enought to ruin pot belly stoves...Then theirs the lower grades of coal that we call "dunce"..Part of my job growing up was busting/hauling  coal for the family..I was taught to seperate the "dunce" from the good coal..

[PaulKrzysz]

I finally had a chance to try this out yesterday and I am really impressed. I railroad spike started to melt within only a minute or two, and when i was finishing the firebrick was even glowing red. The smoke was not as bad as I read either. It only smoked when starting up and after that is was going very well.