[TheForge] Stoker Coal

[Dave Brown]

>Several years ago, a fellow member of UMBA told me he has been using regular
>stoker coal for forging for a long time.
>If you live in the country where the initial smoke would not be a huge
>concern, would this be practical? I have not used coal for years and
>occasionally would like to selectively heat something or make a forge weld.
>I have some stoker coal and wondered what would be the problem. Not as good
>as Pochahontas but is it useable?
>Thanks,
>Bob

Bob,

Stoker coal will work.  But, as you say, it ain't Pochahontas <sic>.  The 
big difference is in the % of volatiles (i.e. oils 'n stuff) 
contained.  Pocahontas #3 runs about 15% volatile matter.  Typical 
bituminous "stoker" coal runs 35%-38% volatiles.  This translates into more 
flame and less coke derived from a pound of coal.  If you want to use it 
for welding you should consider building up a supply of breeze (light coke) 
from your coal so that when you want forge weld you can use it for making a 
nice clean fire.

Dave Brown
Heritage Smithing
Green Bay, WI


--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---