How to wash coal or prevent it from smoking

[JacksonBower123]

I got some free coal from a local seller who had previously used it in a coal oven the coal had not been used in years. When I got home after picking up the coal I lit up my forge but it was creating too much smoke. Worrying that I may upset my neighbors I put out the fire. I'm wondering if there is a way to reduce the smoke output of the coal I have researched coal washing but can't find any resources of people having my issue or how I can wash coal at home. If anyone can help that would be greatly appreciated.

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Jackson, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many members live within visiting distance if your location is in your header you'll have a better chance of meeting up and networking for tools, materials, BBQs and such. 

How' you light the fire? I don't burn coal very often but what we can collect tends to be pretty smoky. The trick I find works pretty well is to build the fire as a crater, wood, cardboard, charcoal, whatever you use as kindling over the air blast with larger coal built up in a crater surrounding it. I light the tinder, I coil about 18" strip of corrugated cardboard maybe 2" wide, the coal holds it in place, I let it spring open a little so air can flow through. I drop a wooden match in a space in the coil and apply a gentle bit of air till it starts to burn, then cover it with larger say walnut size coil and apply gentle blast and build the crater around it. 

What this does is keep an open flame exposed so the coal smoke is burnt in the flame and I build the mound around the flame as the heart grows. You want to keep an exposed flame NOT cover it while the coal cokes. 

That keeps smoke to a bearable level while you develop a good center of coke to work in. Once you have a good working heart you can continue coking the green coal by raking it over the heart maintaining the crater and exposed flame. 

It's not perfect but you don't get smothered by a yellow cloud of smoke.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

Washing coal will only remove dirt.  Smoke is produced when the fuel burns and the heat releases and drives off the volatiles in the fuel.

When you build a coal or solid fuel fire, think of a volcano.  Keep a hole in the top of the fuel to allow the smoke and flame to escape. The flame will burn the smoke.  Add new fuel to the edge of the fire and allow it to warm up and release the volatiles, which the fire will burn, as it cokes up.  Then move the coke into the fire as more fuel is needed to replace the fuel that was burned for heat.

[George N. M.]

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

It sounds like you are burning "green" coal rather than letting it bake into coke around the edge of the fire before pulling it into the fire to burn.  That said, some coals are poor at turning into coke, they tend just to fall apart.  

As Glenn says, washing will only take out the non-cumbustibe impurities on the surface of the coal, nothing more, nothing less.

Usually, a coal fire is a bit smoky as you are starting it but the smoke minimizes within a few minutes as the coke develops.

If it turns out that you can't get it to burn without creating a smoke problem for you neighbors you may have to dump it or pass it on to someone where irritating the neighbors is not a problem.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[anvil]

Theres a number of types of coal and all smoke to some degree. The preferred coal for me is metalurgist or blacksmiths coal. This is a bituminous(soft) coal that has a unique property of making coke. Most coals burn from coal to clinker and ash. Coking coal burns from coal to coke to clinker and ash. The coal burns and changes to coke around the edges of your fire and you move this coke into your firepot to heat your steel. This is called green coal, most likely, because as it burns, with very little smoke, you will see green wisps of smoke. A "clean" fire has no "green" coal in it. The green coal is often wet, to control the fire, Thats the basics. coal becomes green coal, green coal turns to coke, coke and only coke goes into your fire pot and heats your steel. This turns to clinker and ash and goes out the bottom of your fire pot. As the coke is consumed, add more coke. Repeat often. This is the basics. 

Now to your smoke problem. You can't tell the difference between blacksmith coal and most others by sight or touch. If it doesn't coke, its not blacksmith coal. Most coal produces a lot of smoke. Thats the first thing you need to know, does my coal turn to coke. 

If it does, then your problem is most likely your coke is mixed with the green coal in your fire pot. 

If it doesn't coke, then maybe there are others here who can help. Only use blacksmiths coal or coke.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome from the Ozark mountains. This thread will explain a lot about building and maintaining a coal fire.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/30887-forges-and-fires/

 

[JacksonBower123]

Thanks for the help but unfortunately even when I coke the coal to the best of my ability it still smoked way too much for me to use it in my dense suburban neighborhood

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Where might that be, so many answers really need to know your general location. Maybe a picture of your forge setup will help.

[George N. M.]

Anvil, slight difference in nomenclature.  I have always taken "green"  coal to be raw, unheated coal, straight from the mine.  "Green" in the sense of "raw."  Then, as it is heated and the volatiles are driven off it becomes coke.  This was what I was referring to in my earlier post.

Yes, some coals are really bad at coking.  Most of the western coals mined in Wyoming are bad at coking.  The technical measurement you will see in charts of characteristics of coals such as BTUs, ash content, etc. have one called "agglomeration" which tells you how good it is at coking.  The higher the number the better.  I have no idea how they measure it to come up with a number.  This may have been covered in my stratigraphy class but that was over 50 years ago.

The "metallurgical" coals that used to be used to make coke to feed the blast furnaces in steel mills is the best for blacksmith use.  However, with the closure of most domestic steel mills and blast furnaces those mines have largely closed.  Most coal mined today is used in power plants and good coking characteristics are either irrelevalent or a negative for that use.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

IIRC, Alexander Weygers' "The Complete Modern Blacksmith"  had a drawing of a smoke catcher he built for a hand crank blower that fed the smoke produced when starting a forge back through the blower to burn it off and not annoy the neighbors.

Making sure you always have enough coke from the previous fire to start the current one can help a lot as you can then burn the smoke as it's produced.  If you are in the USA I strongly suggest you attend an ABANA Affiliate meeting and find a local smith that uses coal and can show you the tricks.  Canada, the UK, and other countries have similar groups---this is an international website with over 100 different countries participating and since most blacksmithing questions have a location component it helps to know which country.  (Like is the coal in Antarctica any good for smithing?)