How much fuel do you buy at a time, and how low do you let it go before you buy again?

Do you have a emergency reserve supply tucked away somewhere for when you run out of fuel during a project?

i have three 20lb propane bottles and maybe 100 pounds of charcoal right now. two bottles are empty and one is half gone. i will fill up this weekend, and will try to have two for normal work and one as a backup. since i mainly use propane, i have charcoal as backup in case i completely run out.

At the moment I only have about 100 pounds of coal remaining, I was hoping to have a shop built with a new coal storage area before the snow flies here but it is looking less and less likely. My plan was to go and purchase a half ton (1000 pounds) to put in the store house (not yet built) but plans seem to be made to be broken... I'm about as low now as I ever let myself get, but I did actually run out one time about15 years ago... It wasn't exactly convenient having to get in my truck driving the 35 miles one way...

I have about 300# of good coal and 4or5 buckets of coked down coal.
Travis

I try to have at least a couple hundred pounds of coal around. But plans don't always work that way.
Finnr

i usually buy a ton at a time and reorder when i am down to a couple of hundred pounds.i always have a 60lb bottle of propane kicking around as well.

I use propane from a 100 pound tank, keeping a 30 pounder filled for a spare. I keep two 35 gallon plastic, wheeled trash cans with lids filled with coal, several five gallon plastic buckets filled with metalurgical coke purchased a few years back, and about forty pounds of lump hardwood charcoal in the shed, which I use mostly for cooking various critters.

I currently have 500-600 lbs of coal. a mostly full 100lb bottle of propane, 2-20 lb bottles of propane 1 full 1 maybe 1/2 and about 8-10 cords of ready to split oak and maple, mainly for heat in the shop and house but have used it in the forge many a time when the budget wouldn't support forge fuel.
Which reminds me how I need to get splitting right soon, it'll be any day now I'll be needing to spark up the woodstove.

welder19

I have 3 20 lb bottles of propane, that should be enough to give me a new address in 17 different zip codes if the garage catches on fire. Also have about 120 lbs of coal on hand.

A 40# tank fresh full and a truck sized pile of coal next house down..This is eastern,Ky..I can drive down the highway and find coal off the buckets sometimes...In fact I have befor..A bucket tipped and dumped about 50 Tons at the mouth of my road a few months ago..Buzzards beat me to the slack though :mad: The company comes gets most of it but there is always a few tons left..

I'e got a 40lb tank and a 20lb tank of propane, and 250lbs of coal

Wow, I feel fortunate. Probably have 1/2 ton or so coal in reserve, slowly making my way through it, one fire at a time!

500# of coal, pick up 500#'s when I get down to 100#. I have to order a ton to get it delivered. I can hide new hammers from the wife but not a ton of coal.

I have two 100lb and two 40lb propane bottles, probably 1/2-3/4 ton of coal and 15 acres of birch forest right around the shop.

I fill all the bottles when I hook up the last one. Primarily I use the 40s for demos and the 100s in the shop.

Frosty

I bought 900lb in May and still have a good bit.

I try to have 50lb of charcoal or coal around. Right now, I have 200lb of coal, and 100lb of charcoal.

Currently have 600# blacksmithing coal that I picked up at the AL Forge Council Gathering at Tannehill first weekend in Sep,stored off the ground in 50# sacks and covered to minimize IR damage to plastic type bags. Had previously been using heating/stove coal because that was all that was available locally. Jerry

Right now I have 4 twenty pound tanks of propane. When two are empty, that is usually my cue to get them filled. I have gotten down to one-yes, I grill a lot.mt

Theirs a lot of talk about a Coke plant opening in the next county over due to the huge coal industry here...Boy I hope so ..Ill be knocking on the door often ;)

I have two 100lb propane tanks and fill one when I hook up the second. Also have 1 40 lb and 2 grill 20 lbers if necessary. For coal I have about 800 lbs in barrels inside and buy more when I get down to about 200-300 lbs

I have 6 of the 20lb propane tanks. One for the BBQ (and backup for the forge if I run out). I fill up when I get 3 empties. I down use coal very often so I only have about 75lbs of it around.

Currently, I have on hand ; 1000# coal , 500+/- gallons propane in the shop tanks, [3] 150 cf. tanks of acetylene. This should get me through the jobs at hand.
Good coal is hard to come by, here in NW Washington state, so I'm pretty careful how I use it . Anybody here bought any good coal recently? Available from Vancouver, BC to Tacoma?

maybe 200lbs of coal

Good coal is hard to come by, here in NW Washington state, so I'm pretty careful how I use it . Anybody here bought any good coal recently? Available from Vancouver, BC to Tacoma?

Check out the thread "Building Coal Supplier List"

Sam

when I have saved enough money, and if I haven't switched to propane yet, I want to order 1-5 tons of good coal from a supplier around here. But that's a long ways off. Lol.