tried coal for first time...

[bluerooster]

 I like coal, and I hate coal.  It takes way less coal than charcoal to do the same job. But Dang!  It sure is nasty starting up.  Once it cokes it's fine.  And when I'm done, I can spread it out on the table and it will go out, ready to go for tomorrow.  Charcoal, OTOH will continue to burn to ash, so it's wasted. Coal doesn't throw fireflys like charcoal does, but when you toss some green on the fire it smokes a bunch.

 I do have a question though.  with the firepot full, mounded, and burning clean, I want to keep green around the edges to slowly coke as I work, But it smokes a lot. Is that just the nature of the beast?

Thanx

     Shorty 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I start my fires with coke from previous fires so very little smoke, mostly from whatever kindling I use. The green coal around the perimeter coking up does smoke a little but the draft pulls it up the flue not in my face or shop. I rarely put green coal in the fire.

[Glenn]

Putting green coal on the perimeter of the fire allows the green coal to heat up and coke up. This drives off the smoke and volatiles which are drawn into the fire and burned.  The coke is then moved into the fire to replace the fuel as it is burned, and new green coal is used to replace the perimeter.

To eliminate most of the smoke, keep the process moving.  It is a dance called fire maintenance.   

That said different coal have a different amount of volatiles and create different amounts of smoke and heat.  This is where you want to see the coal analysis and BTUs.  You are purchasing BTUs or heat so 13,000 BTUs are on the low end, 14,000 in the mid range and 15,000 BTUs are good.  You can tell the difference when at the forge.  

[bluerooster]

Thanks for the tips.  I had no coke yesterday, so I got the awful startup smoke that seemed to go on forever.  Today however, I had yesterdays coke to start with, and like ya'll said, way less smoke.  I'll be figuring this out as I go. 

  The only coal supplier local to me, (farrier supply)  has no idea about the coal they have.  "It's just forge coal,"  is what they told me. 

[Glenn]

Coal is formed by dead vegetation in a swamp. That swamp can be miles wide and several states long forming the coal seam.  The swamp does not have the same plants in the same amounts throughout the entire swamp, so the coal differs. 

[anvil]

Keep the green coal wet. It will still coke and by wetting it you can control the size of your fire. 

[HammerHeart]

Iv always used coal, when I have to start up green goal I take a couple small strips of wood and get a solid flame that can handle the air flow. I cover the wood with the green coal (a handful of pieces at first) then I'm ready for the day. The process takes around 5 minutes including chopping the kindling. As far as the smoke goes Iv never had any issues with it. I just burn the smoke out before I put anything in the firepot. Hope you get it all figured out buddy, hope I helped. 

 

[ThomasPowers]

You may want to look at Weyger's coal forge rebreather setup where he sucks the startup smoke back into the blower to get burned.

As for "It takes way less coal than charcoal to do the same job"   Are you measuring by volume or by weight?  Coal and charcoal have quite close BTUs per pound; but the density is quite different. 

Also if you use a forge designed for coal to burn charcoal it is not as efficient---just like if you use a forge designed for charcoal to burn coal in.

[pnut]

On 1/26/2020 at 7:02 PM, bluerooster said:

The only coal supplier local to me, (farrier supply)  has no idea about the coal they have.  "It's just forge coal,"  is what they told me

If it's bagged coal you should be able to contact the distributor or it might have a partial analysis on the bag. 

If they're buying bulk loose coal and selling it ask them for an analysis or the supplier info so you can contact them for an analysis.  

Pnut

[ThomasPowers]

What we generally suggest is try to get a 5 gallon "sample" and try it in your forge.  This will tell you how well it will work for you with your setup.

[Michael]

I'm set up in a residential neighborhood and when lighting up a coal fire, I try to keep a good bright flame burning to keep the green/yellow smoke at bay.  Not much heating of metal going on at first, but a good 10 or 15 minutes managing the fire, opening the top to keep a tall, wide flame going and eat up all the coal smoke goes a long way towards keeping the fire department at bay.

Once a nice double handful of coal has coked down to be reasonably smoke free, I can pile green coal around the perimeter of the fire, wet it down and if the smoke gets to be a problem, open the top of the fire again to burn it off. 

At least in my neighborhood, a plume of smoke will get the neighbor s to call the fire department.

This is exactly why I buy a bag of coke whenever I'm at a blacksmith event or hammer in.

[bluerooster]

On 1/27/2020 at 3:00 PM, ThomasPowers said:

As for "It takes way less coal than charcoal to do the same job"   Are you measuring by volume or by weight?  Coal and charcoal have quite close BTUs per pound; but the density is quite different. 

Also if you use a forge designed for coal to burn charcoal it is not as efficient---just like if you use a forge designed for charcoal to burn coal in.

 I guess volume.   Due to the density of coal, it seems that it takes less.  But Charcoal also seems to burn faster, I'm allways having to add more, at a faster rate than with coal.

I have two forges, one for charcoal, and one for coal.  Quite different in design.  Both seem to work well with the proper fuel. 

  That "re-breather" idea, I'll check into it. Sounds interesting.

  Thanx