[TheForge] Pet Colk

[Jeff Wilson]

When I was younger we got pet chalk at the local farmers Coop.   It was in
the same area as the snake tongue oil.  Neither is that common anymore.
Folks don't oil their snake's tongue nor chalk their pets much these days.

Jeff
Correct spelling and nomenclature promotes  understanding.
On the very wet side of Puget's Sound.

"What appears to be coming at you is coming from you." -Jack Flanders
On Nov 18, 2015 6:11 AM, "Bob" <blcksmth at wcnet.org> wrote:

>     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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