lochness Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 HI all, New here, I've been hitting hot metal for a couple of years- just got the urge, and did it, which means I don't know jack, 'cep I can get the metal hot enough to whack with a hammer... Anyway, I found this forum, and have maybe a stupid question... does anyone make their own coke? I mean, in an oven, separate from what makes itself in the forge. I live in Utah, and we have real good coal here, easy to come by. I heat my shop with coal, and find hot coke in my coal stove most mornings when I come in for work. I'm tempted to just use my stove to make coke for the forge, but wondered if anyone has messed around with making coke in any quantity, tips for doing so, etc. Don't bother googling "how to make coke", unless you want to learn how to make drugs. Sheesh...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt87 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 You could try searching for 'coking coal' with Google, I did so and found some information on the process. It's not something I've heard of being done 'at home' but I'd probably try some experiments starting with copying charcoal-making methods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tech413 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I would think that charcoal methods would work like matt87 said, but I'm not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Most blacksmiths use the edge of the forge fire to continuously make coke as it is needed for the fire. Fire maintenance is keeping burning coke in the fire pot, coal being converted to coke around the fire, and green coal on the outside edge. With good fire maintenance there is little smoke produced and that is consumed by the fire. What you may want to search for is industrial coke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) The main difference between breeze (forge made coke) and commercial coke is it's density. Commercial coke is made in an enclosed oven or more properly an enclosed casing in an oven. The casing keeps the coke from expanding like it does in the forge or your stove so it's considerably denser. This is the stuff you can buy that's harder to light and keep going. So, the short answer is, Yes, you can make your own Coke. Use a method similar to retorting charcoal (indirect method) but make the container of heavier steel and with a way to open an entire side and end or you'll have the devil of a time getting the big lump out. Then you need to mill it to size to use. As with making a charcoal retort duct the exhausted volatiles back into the retorting kiln so the process is self sustaining once it begins. Possible, yes but practical? I've never heard of anyone doing it but have given it some thought myself. I'll await your report eagerly if you give it a try. Oh yeah, if you'll click on "User CP" at the top of the page and edit your profile to show your location you'll find out about all the folk who live close enough to lend a hand directly. That and us old farts won't have to try remembering who's in an area when we're traveling and want a tasty lunch or place to nap. Last but far from least. Welcome to the gang, glad to have ya. Frosty Edited February 4, 2009 by Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luken Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Lochness, I live in Utah too, and am just starting to be interested in this fascinating trade. I would love to know where you get your coal from, as I am just beginning and building my forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourne101 Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 hi i'm new to blacksmithing as well and i'm wondering what the benefits of using coke instead of coal is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckpond Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 i built a charcoal retort also known as a pyrolyzer or charcoal kiln, i used a 44 galon drum with a beer keg inside and returned the volatile gasses to the fire chamber. It works well, and i intend to build a larger one from brick and iron. I also wondered if i could coke coal in it. I googled coking coal, and go a few industrial recipies, indicating that a temp of over 2000C was needed, however i doubt that forges get to that temp, so perhaps the coking done in a forge is less complete or something. Dunno does anyone know a way to check if coal is coked enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Sure you can make your own coke with a retort just like charcoal. 2,000C? Not hardly. If it burns without smoke or visible flame except maybe a little blue flame like a gas range it's coked well enough. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckpond Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 does it matter about the type of coal going in? what sort of place sels domestic quantities of coal? im in Australia so brands are no help, but just the type of place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Blacksmith Groups Forum - BAWA at IForgeIron.com is full of Oz members, its a lot closer to you, with more common resources, than most of the rest of us. Also http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f8/oz-roll-call-7380/ is a listing of OZ smiths. Add you name and ask there, you may have a member down the road from you! Welcome to I Forge Iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaoscorp Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 Hey so as an answer to this question on how to make coke good enuff for smelting harth steel.... I perfer coke that's wood based carbon.. take a bunch of wood put it in a sealable non flammable container. Ie:(metal drum, box car on a train) essentially yeah light it on fire! Let it burn for a little tell you know its burning good, then close her up! And wait. This is only the first step to makeing your char Cole.... and yes like the others mentioned it's the second burn of the Cole that will produce (coke) and to do this you can do as they say for the black smithing forge, or if you need alot for say smelting.... i believe thorugh my tests that once you get the Cole back ablaze to where they are glowing. I would seal it up and wait a bit for it to cook and decrease in themp then dump it out in a line and give it all a shower with a good sprayer that is a large cone... (just putting out the heat... you dont want your coke to keep burning) feel for hot spots... then you needs to sive through , big, mid, small, ash. A good indicator that you have coke is that the wood turned to black chunks, cooked hot enuff with little to no oxygen. Makeing some nice hard chunks of coke. Test em by trying to break or crumble by hand. .... I my self have been trying to make primitive steel/ iron in to anything... managed to create 2 blooms using fin barbi Q brickets... hit with a hammer splits in 4x1in chunks... sooooooo many clinkers...... not worth the price for smelting... but is good enuff to forge if you dont mind having to dig in there and pull out all them large clinkers... so I have been digging in to old videos of how a blast furnace smells steal and learned some valuable info as to take iron dust from the ground with a magnet, pan it for impurities and dibre, mix it with some borax and carbon dust from makeing Cole, then cook it... let it cool and break it in some smaller chunks to feed in to my harth forge... ( tryed to use the raw dust with all sorts of impuratys, just dumping it in with a scrap charge of some sort of metal) that's my first bloom. I had little hope but I pulled out a chunk the size of a grapefruit On 3/4/2009 at 1:29 AM, Duckpond said: i built a charcoal retort also known as a pyrolyzer or charcoal kiln, i used a 44 galon drum with a beer keg inside and returned the volatile gasses to the fire chamber. It works well, and i intend to build a larger one from brick and iron. I also wondered if i could coke coal in it. I googled coking coal, and go a few industrial recipies, indicating that a temp of over 2000C was needed, however i doubt that forges get to that temp, so perhaps the coking done in a forge is less complete or something. Dunno does anyone know a way to check if coal is coked enough? Try to break it by hand its alot harder then Cole, and looks burnt like ash but not. I find it after I used my DIY forge/harth, I sive through the ash and pull out any chunks I can use that's coke and put the Cole back... saving up small amounts after every use... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 Dear Chaoscorp, Welcome aboard. Glad to have you. If you haven't read the "Read this First" in the banner at the top please do so. Also, if you put your general location in your information it will let the other folk tailor their answers or comments to location. There are a surprising number of things that vary by location around the world. We also tend to be sticklers for using common terms for various things and processes. This helps avoid confusion. This is particularly important since some of our members are not native English speakers. While some of them write much better English than a lot of folk who grew up speaking English it is better to avoid confusion by using the same words and terms as everyone else. So, a couple comments and clarifications regarding your post: Coke is a mostly carbon based material made by driving off the volatile elements from coal. Charcoal is a mostly carbon base material made by driving off the volatile elements from wood or other plant material. Coal is ancient plant material that has been buried for millions of years. The real trick to using a blast furnace is the blast, getting enough air to move through the charge of ore, fuel, and flux to get the whole thing to work. Blast furnaces didn't exist until the technology advanced enough to provide a way of pumping a lot of air through the furnace. Again, welcome aboard. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 Welcome aboard Chaoscorp, glad to have you: Not knowing where you are makes it difficult to determine what you're saying. If you are just using text speak, please slow down and use plain English, many of your misspellings can be confused for legitimate words and will fool translation software in other countries. Iforge Iron has around 50,000 member It's also a good idea to look at the date of publication on the post you're responding to, March 2009 is better than 12 years ago. There is nothing wrong with reviving old threads or speaking to a statement made years ago, it's done all the time. The response makes more sense if you write it so it distinguishes itself from an old post. Not doing so again confuses translation software and the purpose of this forum is spreading good information. I'm not trying to be harsh, I'd like more people aboard, participating and showing us pictures of eye candy projects. That's the true power of Iforge, the free exchange of information and friends all over the planet. But we have to understand what you're saying or you are wasting time typing and we are wasting time reading. Again welcome aboard. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaoscorp Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 <dyslexia> so I do apologize, as for date stamp that's my mistake. Also I will keep you all posted on eye candy once I've managed with the crude prossess to create something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 No need to apologize, it takes a while to learn how the site works and everybody replies to old posts. Sometimes to restart the thread with something new but we often just don't look at the date on what we're replying to. Happens to us all. Don't sell yourself short, nobody is born knowing a craft, we all started with nothing but a desire to play with the fire and beat something from the steel/iron. Welcome to the club Brother. Feel free to show us whatever you do, nobody will make fun of or ridicule you, not and stay a member. We all have issues, I'm a traumatic Brain Injury survivor and have problems. Thankfully the Iforge gang cuts me slack an if I go too far off the rails PM me to let me know I'm loosing it. This is a good place to hang out, learn and share what you have and learn. Relax and enjoy. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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