Brandoncw Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 This may be a stupid question but my buddies land is littered with oil shale near an opening to a mine shaft. supposedly it was a coal mine but there sure is alot of shale around it. i was wondering since that stuff burns would it burn hot enough to forge with it?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Interesting. Isn't that the flat grey layered rock I pick outbof my green coal and the forge because it won't burn? Not alot of it but some in every bag the size of your thumb nail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 No. Coal beds are often bounded/interleaved with shale beds and so "contaminate" a mechanically dug load---they used to employ children to pick it out of the coal as it went by in the mines. Ah the good old days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phabib Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 I forget what that job was called. My son did a report on it when they studied the U.N. children's rights declaration at school. He found some old pictures of some very dirty 8-10 year olds sitting in front of a conveyor belt of passing coal picking out the rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 The pit ponies were treated better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 They were called breaker boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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