[TheForge] Re: Forge firepot.

[Mike Spencer]

> doesn't water react with the coal / ash and produce an acid?

For coal, it probably depends on the amount of sulfur and just what
form it's in.  And that probably varies a lot.

For coal ashes, I'm pretty sure that's acidic.  The sulfur has been
freed up into more or less soluble form and not all of it burns or
goes away with the smoke. End result when mixed with moisture is
dilute sulfuric acid.

Well, I should be able to test that, despite lack of any lab
equipment.  Red cabbage juice is a pH indicator.  IIRC, it's red when
acidic and green when basic.  I can soak some forge ash, add some
red cabbage juice to the mix and see what color it turns.  If I still
have a red cabbage left in the root cellar.

Dry coal stored under cover should be pretty inert. People have been
keeping coal in the cellar or the back shed for 300 years or so.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^