[TheForge] Pet Colk

[Bob]

     I had access to some coke that was in very large chunks - some 
football size - that I tried to break with a hammer.
Like you there were pieces all over the place. I found a fellow at a 
tractor/engine show with a stone crusher.
I asked him if he would crush some coke if I brought it to the show. He 
did and the pieces are walnut size and smaller.

Bob Willman
The Eagle's Anvil
Bowling Green, Ohio
WB8NQW

Laws that forbid the Carrying of arms...disarm only those who
are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...such laws
make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants;
They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an
unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

Thomas Jefferson

On 11/18/2015 7:08 AM, Bruce . wrote:
> (I've decided to revert to archaic spelling rather than invent a new one.
> See previous thread "coak" if you don't know what I'm taking about )
>
> ​Mike:
>
> NJBA has been using some colk we purchased (cheap) from the Pine Creek RR
> (q.v.) because it burned too hot for their steam boilers (so I heard).  I
> have long suspected that it's pet colk, but don't know.  It comes as
> large-fist​-sized chunks that must be broken up before use (tho some lazy
> smiths try to get away without doing so).  It burns hot and clean, but is
> rather more trouble to get started than is coal.
>
> We break up the chunks of this colk with a quick blow with a hammer.  It's
> fairly brittle so breaks easily.  The main problem is it scatters 360* when
> it does.  I once rigged a cardboard box with a steel plate in the bottom
> which I put on the Grasshopper Treadle Hammer.  Properly configured, a
> fuller tool would crack the colk chunk nicely.  The box retained the small
> chunks and crumbs.
>
> I always figured that what was needed was a steel box with a chute below to
> feed the small stuff to a bin, and a hopper above to feed chunks to the
> hammer -- tho the latter would be optional.
>
> Marshall (who owns the shop) thought we should put a piece of heavy bar
> grate (https://img3.fastenal.com/productimages/0952541_hr4c.jpg)
> over a bin, spread the colk on top, and stomp it with (
> https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-raVX61aZypuCsBBG2ceMh7F1kJqNjx999ftEflLh-98J0t5P
> ).
> No doubt that would have been faster, but we never even tried it, whereas I
> did try the treadle hammer approach.  I just never built a permanent device.
>
> It's rather moot for us because we're giving away this fuel to those who
> attend our open forge meet.  THEY're the ones who have to break it up for
> use.
>
> Never got around to building such a thing
>
> Bruce
> NJ
>
> I have this vague recollection that there is an abundant and
>> superfluous supply of pet coke in certain places that the owners are
>> eager to get rid of.  And a similar recollection that it tends to come
>> in suitcase-sized chunks and be very hard -- much harder than lumpy
>> bituminous coal -- to break up and is much harder to get burning well.
>>
>> So is pet coke something that might be had for the cost of fetching it
>> and finding a way to crush it into pea size?   Would it be worth the
>> trouble?  This:
>>
>>      http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/temp/crusher.html
>>
>> was not adequate for production crushing. :-)
>>
>>
>> - Mike
>>
>> --
>> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
>>                                                             /V\
>> mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
>> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
>>
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