Coal Smoke Issue

[JMR]

I recently picked up a load of coal for my forge. I used the coal for the first time and there was an excessive amount of smoke coming off the coal. Obviously there will be some form of smoke from burning the coal but is there a way to reduce the smoke?  I live in a residential area and I am not sure how long it will last with the neighbors.  

[Pat Roy]

Green coal will smoke like that until the volatiles are burned out. What you have left is coke. Perhaps you should by coke if the neighbors will complain.

[Glenn]

When you build the fire, first build a fire from sticks or kindling in order to get a bed of coals. Next add coal a little at a time so the fire burns the smoke. If you add a quantity of coal, always poke a hole in the top (think volcano) so the fire escapes which will burn a large amount of the smoke.  You have to play with the fire to see what works best for you, and what produces the least amount of smoke.

 

You can add more coal than is needed and them put the coke into a bucket water to quench the fire. Lay it out to dry and becore long you will have a good supply of low smoke coke on hand when the wind blows toward the neighbor.

 

Remember that smoke has a distinctive aroma You may not be able to tell where it is coming from but you most certainly recognize the aroma.

[Herb Upham]

Smell and smoke are the reasons my urban students often use propane forges. This is the rason I teach students how to use coal, coke and propane forges in my classes.

[Michael]

After 2, maybe 3 forging sessions, you'll have enough light fluffy coke to start a relatively smokeless fire. Then you mound up your green (unburned) coal around your burning coke fire and as long as you have a little flame to burn off the smoke you won't be making too much of the green yellow smoke. 

 

Along with poking a hole in the top of the fire, I often have to get the poker Under the fire and lift up a bit, just to keep the air flowing, do this anytime the fire doesn't immediately respond to air from the blower or bellows.

 

Like a lot of things in blacksmithing, I'd read about leaving yourself a little coke ready to go next time you lit the forge, but until I lit a few coal fires, and saw the leftovers and how little smoke they generated, then what I'd read made sense.

[forestgu3]

Personally, I've found that keeping a supply of coke from the last fire is helpful.  Often starting the new fire for the day the lay is as such; fire starter (paper, cardboard, wood shavings), new coal, coke, coke/coal mix.  Initially if you have a coal fire you'll always have smoke but with practice you can minimize the volume and duration.  If you decide to switch to coke from a manufacturer instead of coking while you forge, most will tell you not to quench the coke.  If you do you'll learn a lesson quickly, like the novice starting a propane forge without igniting imediately.  Forge away.

[SReynolds]

Personally, I've found that keeping a supply of coke from the last fire is helpful.  .

 

What else would one do with the remaining coke........throw it away? What I mean is, when one stops forging, the fire is still coke. Like it was the entire time you were working. With a small amount of coal surrounding the coke. If you rake off the coal and put that with the coal and rake off the coke from the ash/trash/clinker in the bottom of the fire pot, you would.............normally throw the coke out?

 

The only time in your exisitance on the face of the planet in which you'd build a fire from coal, is when you build the first fire aka you have zero coke and only a supply of bulk coal.

[ThomasPowers]

Well a lot of new smiths like to follow the fire down as it comes close to time to stop and so they don't have much coke to use to start the fire next time.  When what they should be doing is heaping on the fresh coal to have a massive amount of coke ready for the next time!

[Michael]

Well a lot of new smiths like to follow the fire down as it comes close to time to stop and so they don't have much coke to use to start the fire next time.  When what they should be doing is heaping on the fresh coal to have a massive amount of coke ready for the next time!

I used to do this a lot when I worked with charcoal, follow the fire down. It did leave the forge pretty clean.

 

Not a good habit with coal though, only just recently figured this out!