switching to coal?

[Ten Hammers]

I use gas, coal and charcoal. Solid fuel will never be replaced. Gas works well for many production issues. I use charcoal at camp normally. Good coal is hard to get locally yes. Last year filling the 100 lb bottle was roughly 32 bucks. This year over 60. Steel is getting insane again. 25 hours seems short life for 23 1/2 gallons of fuel.

[hot coal]

coal in indiana is hard to find to , unless u head south to the open pits or buy it in bags if u can find it , i also add some charcoal to it to make it go farther , , some times u can find old coke along the rail road tracks if u look for it , co-op use to sell here but stoped years ago , peabodys down south is about the only one i know of now days , that has coal unless u know some one that has it on site or land they own

[fire4ged]

There's a place not far from here where I can get coal for $75- $100 per ton last I checked. Been a while since I bought any though.

[48willys]

Thats about what it is here, $100 per ton.Only I don't know if I got a really bad batch or if this stuff is this way all the time,but it will make one giant clinker about the size of a foot ball if you don't keep after it.It might be why I can't get a weld,but back to the subject.Coal works for me,because its cheep and I don't have anyone close enough to be a problem with the smoke.

[Neal L]

I want a gas forge one day but when I do get one I'll still use coal. For me the advantage of having the gasser would be to run out to the shop for a short time and not have to start a coal fire and then wait for it to cool before I leave. On aveage i've found that three five gallon buckets makes 100 lbs of coal. So even if you are paying 30 dollars a hundred lbs (i payed closer to 10 dollars) thats only ten dollars for a full day of forging.
I'm sure coal is much cheeper but if you are inside build a side draft to get the smoke out.

[azIRonSmith]

Sounds like yer burning over 2 gallons per hour. How big a forge/how many burners are you running? It sounds very inefficient if you are just running a two burner hobbyist sized forge.

I run two burners and get about 6-8 hours on my 5gallon tank (not really 5, they always under fill for "safety").

You might need to get your burners tweaked or even think about adding an idler valve to lower the gas needed when the metal is out of the forge.

I also have a charcoal forge and do use the Cowboy brand of charcoal. You can also get big bags(40-50lbs) from your local restaurant supplier even cheaper.

Coal is tougher to get and very "dirty", not to mention the neighbors might call the Fire Dept on you when they see those big plumes of green smoke ;-P.

[dablacksmith]

well i didnt see any posts on this but i use coke...coal butns to smoky and while coke takes more air it burns pretty much smoke free... and it is a bit cheaper to run than propane... i can usually get by with a bag a week that is my workweek which is 5 days a week from 10 to 3.30 (shop hours are 10-4 but i like the forge to be cold before i leave) i had the coke shipped in on a pallet by the ton it cost me 736.00 delevered
i had axcess to a forklift to move the coal off the truck ... the coke i use is Lbrand .it is a learning curve to switch from propane to coal or coke.As far as cost difference ime not sure that is a good reason to change ... but if you are planning to do more forgewelding or work on odd hard to fit into propane forge projects it might be worth trying.. ive used bolth and am working in a museum right now so propane dosent fit..for production i like propane ! you can stuff the forge full of iron and pound till ya drop! coal and coke take a bit of fiddeling with but can get steel hotter and are easyier to forge weld in.. good luck ! ps are you going to be at the 30th anaversary of nwba conference?might see ya there!