desmato Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Title is self explanatory but I am curious how others break their coal into smaller bite sized portions.... for years, I have just smacked the larger sized pieces with my hammer when I come across them but I recently acquired 150# of some rather large lumped stuff (for free) which takes too much time and makes quite the mess to break up. some have been like a large orange/small grapefruit but most are raw walnut sized. What devices do you guys use ? I was thinking that a size adjustable hand grinder type crushing tool would be great for this but have never seen one. Todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Most coal that I've used has grain to it. I just take a hatchet and split it into thinner slabs. Then it's a lot easier to crush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Much of our coal is in large lumps, some larger than grapefruits. We have a concrete pad outside with a homemade steel tamper. We use it for the big chunks, but we have also learned to build decent fires with baseball sized chunks. We get a fire going with fairly small pieces; then we surround the fire with the baseball sized coal...and put a few on top. As the inner faces of the coal start forming into coke, those areas fractionize and the coke can easily be chipped off with the rake, thus replenishing your fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Olson Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I have a metal 5 gallon bucket and sledge hammer. The hole in the top is big enough to put a scoop of coal through yet keeps the coal in the bucket when I'm smashing xxxxxxxx out of it with the sledge. Like a butter churn. Then I just pour it onto the coal staging area on the forge. Easy peezy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Todd: I don't understand your dilemma, how hard is that coal? It didn't take me 5 minutes to break a steamer trunk size lump of Anthracite coal into egg to golf ball size pieces when I heated with coal I mined myself and the bituminous isn't half as hard to break. How are you breaking it? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigb Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Funny this came up, just this weekend I had the bright idea to grab my welder's chipping hammer to see how it would work breaking coal. Just took some light love taps and it broke up real nice without flying all over the place and I had less of the pea size pieces which sometimes clog my grate. I'll never use a regular hammer on coal again. I use a metal oil drain pan to break it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmato Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 It's not hard, nor a dilemma, I was just more so curious as to how others do it and if anyone has a neato tool or idea really. I keep envisioning a hand cranked meat grinder looking contraption with a few toothed wheels that crush any piece into an x-y sized product. I must be stuck on a gravel mill since I live in Gravel Central Michigan (Northern Oakland county is where the last glacier stopped then melted. We also have 358 lakes (due to the gravel deposits) Todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mars Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 On my ranch we have a few small crushers for crushing rock into powder. I wonder if they can be adjusted? I'm currently 2400 miles away from my ranch but I'll be home in a week and try to post a pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I just put any lumps on or near the fire. A little heat and whack it with the poker and it will fracture into layers. Put the layers on the top of the fire and a little heat and whack it with a hammer. No dust, no small pieces lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I proactively solve the problem. I find that when I do lots of really small naughty things, Santa brings lots of small coal lumps--as opposed to doing a few large naughty things so Santa brings large lumps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmato Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 Dear lord Glen... some of those are practically the size of the drum ! I have to imagine you are getting your supply right from the mine ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Look into how a plate crusher works, you can set the size of the output. Orrrr, you could lay a couple bars of whatever thickness you desire parallel on the ground. Pile your coal between them, lay a plate of steel over them and drive the family vehicle over the plate till til stops going down. Putting it in a cloth bag and taking a B'ball bat to it works too. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 My Dad made a coal crusher out of a piece of pipe. He welded a plate on the bottom, then torched an opening like a cave entrance. At the top of the opening he added a plate inside the pipe with holes the size of the coal he wanted. Drop the coal in, and beat it butter churn style with an old car axle-the 5 wheel studs did the work. As the sized coal fell through the plate it could be scooped out of the opening in the bottom front with a shovel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou L Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 I would just put this problem in my rationalization routine for convincing myself and then my wife that I need a power hammer...and a big tarp....and a suit of mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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