[TheForge] Coal vs. Charcoal

[Jeff Harding]

I've heard some discussion about when American smiths switched from
charcoal to coal for their forges and thought I'd toss this out.  I'm
sure not everyone switched and some continued and some returned, not
the point I'm going to make.

   There is a 1840's recreation village in Indiana called Conner's
Prairie, it's just north of Indianapolis, one of the "shops" is a
black smith's shop. The day I was there the guy at the forge was the
"apprentice" and he was talking about how he wasn't sure if he liked
the new "stone coal" that the smith had bought.  He moaned a little
about it smelling bad, but then said something like, "well, I guess if
it gets hot enough it's alright".

   This is supposed to be a perfectly historically accurate village,
the people all dress and stay in character.  (well, I got the potter
to break character, but that's another story)  It's administrated by
Earlham College and they are supposed to have done everything they can
to make it accurate and change things if they learn they are
inaccurate.

   So.. is there a specific time when this "change" occurred?  Did the
"change" happen wholesale or was it a preference or convienence thing?
Is 1840 about right or just right for the "frontier" that the area was
at the time?

   Jeff   ><>