ThorsHammer82 Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 So, Either I'm doing something wrong, or I got some pretty crappy coal.So I've had my coal forge for about two years now. I don't get to play with it as much as I'd like. But it is what it is. I was using it last night, and went through about two fire place ash buckets of coal. When I went to pull the klinkers out at the end of the night The whole bottom of the brake drum forge, along with my grate came out leaving a small pile of burning coke/coal left in the forge. The Clinker was red and glowing still, but I wouldn't say it was burning.So now I've got to figure out why. The coal seems to have a lot of dust in it, I do my best to shake off/strain out the dust when I'm hand loading the forge, and the bucket from my larger container. I know some people just leave their coal in a pile outside and don't even bother caring if it gets wet. would it be beneficial to "wash" my coal to help prevent klinkers? any other suggestions in how to minimize the amount of klinkers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Most folks wet the coal dust and coke it up once the fire is going. "Dirty coal" is just that, the peat that was layed down over the eaons had dust and sand mixed in, some has more some has less. Just get in the habit of cleaning out the clinker when you notice the fire isn't as hot as usual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Clinker will not burn. You likely figured that out. The coal contains clinker material. One cannot simply wash it off.Sand....silica. Clay. Iron. Shale. Quality coal makes little. There will always be some. The longer I burn, the more of it I generate. It is supposed to be there at the bottom of the forge. Don't really understand your concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JME1149 Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Two buckets sounds like a lot of coal to go through in one evening, must have been a good forging session. It is my belief that the klinker is the result of the impurities in the coal, and the dust on the outside shouldn't contribute significantly. There could be a lot of reasons why you ended up with the meteorite at the end of the night where you didn't have that problem before. Different batch of coal could be of a lesser quality. Stirring the fireball more while working could break up the klinker and drop it into the tueyere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 A bullet grate works well to eliviate this problem, simply drill a 3/4" hole in the middle of a 2" pipe cap and drop it in the middle over the air hole, you will limit your fire ball to abour 6" (about what you can work by hand), improving fuel consumption and the klinker will run down the sides forming a donut.staing out of the air streem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 A bullet grate works well to eliviate this problem, simply drill a 3/4" hole in the middle of a 2" pipe cap and drop it in the middle over the air hole, you will limit your fire ball to abour 6" (about what you can work by hand), improving fuel consumption and the klinker will run down the sides forming a donut.staing out of the air streemAgrees with my experience. I got hold of some coal that seemed like it was all clinker, and was steam coal. Really there is nothing to be done about the clinker but buy from a different source. You are fortunate to line in PA. Much harder to chose your supply here in Louisiana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I'm in PA and could even sit by the river and watch coal/coke going by in barges or trains all day but have only personally found one guy selling to everyday people. There are even coal mines all around me was a strip mine behind my house when I was younger. It's an industrial park now. Anyway it all goes somewhere. Mostly out of PA. Now we have the gas wells everywhere too. Anyway my supplier seems to be up and down on quality and size of the coal. I get hunks of shale in my forge on occasion. Clinkers arnt horrible tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I tend to forget that 50 years have passed since I lived in PA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I tend to forget that 50 years have passed since I lived in PA.not a lot of people heat with coal around here anymore since gas lines are about everywhere and most that I hear of that don't have gas use heating oil or electric. They even closed one or more coal fired electric plants. There may be more places to get coal but I haven't found em yet. How times change huh? I remember even before the strip mine that was all farmland. Sorry to have gone off topic a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 So, Either I'm doing something wrong, or I got some pretty crappy coal.So I've had my coal forge for about two years now. I don't get to play with it as much as I'd like. But it is what it is. I was using it last night, and went through about two fire place ash buckets of coal. When I went to pull the klinkers out at the end of the night The whole bottom of the brake drum forge, along with my grate came out leaving a small pile of burning coke/coal left in the forge. The Clinker was red and glowing still, but I wouldn't say it was burning.So now I've got to figure out why. The coal seems to have a lot of dust in it, I do my best to shake off/strain out the dust when I'm hand loading the forge, and the bucket from my larger container. I know some people just leave their coal in a pile outside and don't even bother caring if it gets wet. would it be beneficial to "wash" my coal to help prevent klinkers? any other suggestions in how to minimize the amount of klinkers?Some years ago, I got some coal from eastern Oklahoma that made a lot of clinker. It was mostly fines with a few big pieces about fist-sized. A friend of mine and I drove up to the mine and loaded it bulk into bags; was cheap and burned real hot but very dirty. Didn't know what it was like until I made a fire but by that time I was already home with several tons in the trailer so had to figure out how to use it. Best thing I found was to put several shovelfuls in a five gallon bucket then pour in enough water to make a thick slurry. I would then light the fire with some left over coke and pack the wet coal in around the sides and leave a slit down the middle for the fire to burn through. This would allow it to coke up and minimized the clinker - although I still had to stop every 20-30 minutes and clean out a few pieces.Good coal that makes little or no clinker is hard to find - about the best stuff I ever saw came out of somewhere in Alabama. One of the local guys in our forge group brought some back from a mine and it was all stoker size. Had a lot of volatiles and made large flames above the forge but I could work for several hours and only pull out a small clinker or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThorsHammer82 Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 I was heating large stock for hoops, thus the amount of coal. by the time I was done (nearing 10pm) the forge drum was glowing red.I understand that all coal has clinkers, was just looking for suggestions on ways to minimize the amount. I'll look into the bullet grate, seeing as how my grate is now encased in clinker. it was just a floor drain cover thrown into the bottom of the forge anyway.I may set up a screen to get rid of some of the fine dust too. And next time I get coal (only one source in the area) I'll scoop from the pile, and not from the edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) Clinker is the impurities in the coal that does not burn. As they mine coal they try to get the entire seam and in doing so scrape and collect the top and bottom of the seam that rest on and under rocks. They then *wash* the coal to remove the rocks. The washing process is not 100%.If you have a lot of clinker in your fuel, clean the forge more often. Do not blow air into the fire to let things cool a bit, and you should be able to hook out the now solidified clinker. Add air and rake in fuel and you should be back in business.Washing the fuel may or may not help as some of the fuel that looks like coal is shale and rock and will not burn no matter what.The best solution is to look at the coal analysis and the ash content for that sample. High ash content means high clinker. Reference Blueprint BP0131 Coal, Coke, and Rock Edited October 20, 2015 by Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 we get our coal as dust and store it in water to use it as a slurry. Unless your dust is not coal dust, getting rid of it is throwing coal out the door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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