Soft blacksmith coal

[JACKP]

I live in north western NC (Wilkes county) and there isn't any local coal yards here. I found one in Winston-Salem that sells stoker coal that is very hard (can't break it with my hands). I've tried it and I guess it works OK but everyone says you need soft stoker coal. Is there any one in my area or South Western Virginia that can help with the where abouts of blacksmithing coal?

Thanks very much
Jack

[Papaw]

Welcome to Tool Talk!

Find the Introduction Forum and tell us a bit about yourself and your old tool interests.

[john k]

If you find the forum Anvilfire, there is a pull down listing of coal suppliers.   I find this strange because you are in the middle of coal country, and last I heard there were small coal mines run by families that would be glad to exchange coal for cash.   Hard eastern anthracite coal is the best for black smithing, it takes a pointed hammer to bust it up.   The guy that said you need soft coal?   I think he was half right,  you need stoker sized coal, nothing bigger than a small hen egg, and large marble size is best.  The soft brown coal coming out of Wyoming right now, one can blacksmith with but, it is dirty, and forms as many clinkers as anything I ever tried.  The soft coal is usually so dirty that one cannot get a forge weld to stick either.   The coal I buy locally here in Nebraska, is trade named Pocahontas, and comes from West Virginia.   One week ago I was burning some.   Thanks for coming in, don't be a stranger.

[JACKP]

Thanks for the help. I guess the coal I have found is good stuff. It is stoker coal and it is hard.
I'll find the introduction forum and tell you a little about me.

Thanks a lot.

Jack

[Branson]

I have a few buckets of anthracite (hard) coal that I got with a bunch of blacksmith equipment (a big bunch, actually -- I bought an entire hobbyist's smith's shop, including a cone mandrel).  Hard coal is what he used.  But I've always been told that bituminous or soft coal is what should be used for smithing.  That's all they sell out here.   The best I've ever used was from Pennsylvania -- very clean stuff!   

[JACKP]

I have a few buckets of anthracite (hard) coal that I got with a bunch of blacksmith equipment (a big bunch, actually -- I bought an entire hobbyist's smith's shop, including a cone mandrel).  Hard coal is what he used.  But I've always been told that bituminous or soft coal is what should be used for smithing.  That's all they sell out here.   The best I've ever used was from Pennsylvania -- very clean stuff!

To make sure I understand you, are you saying that the soft coal is the best, or have you actually tried the hard coal?

[oldgoaly]

-Grace Fuel Co.
110 N Woodfin Ave.,
Asheville, NC 28804
Phone: 1-828-252-6401


  Kayne & Son Custom Hardware,  100 Daniel Ridge Road, Candler, NC 28715. Tel: (828) 667-8868 Or (828) 665-1988 Fax: (828) 665-8303. E-Mail: kaynehdwe@ioa.com. Will ship coal in 50 pound lots by UPS.

 PNG coal & Oil Co., 410 E. Second St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101. TEL: (919) 722-2024.


from a couple of different sites but not sure how up to date the info is

[JACKP]

Thanks again for all the help.

Not to argue with anyone of you, I have several books written from the 1911 untill recently and they ALL say use Bituminous soft coal.

Well , I'll keep searching

Thanks again
Jack

[oldgoaly]

are going to forge weld? then you probably want hard / low sulfur,  blacksmith's are a funny lot, back in the PC / floppy disk era they put out 3 gigs of argument on anhydrous borax, basically arguing over 2% moisture content????  was interesting some people are stuck in there ways. 

[keykeeper]

You need high-BTU, low sulfur bituminous coal. Also known as metallurgical coal. This coal forms coke readily, and doesn't take long for the impurities to burn off and reach that point.

This coal is common all over the entire state of West Virginia, Western Virginia, Kentucky, etc.. You can take a little drive and probably find all you need within an hour of your location, depending on where that is.

Bituminous, or soft coal is all I've ever used smithing. Once you get some good "hot" coal that cokes up nicely and forms little clinker, you'll be hooked.

There used to be a coal yard in White Sulphur Springs, WV that sold smithing coal, which may be close to your area.

[mikeswrenches]

I don't know much about blacksmithing so I have to ask why you don't use anthracite coal?  It is very low in sulphur, has a high BTU content, and low emissions.  It would seem ideal to me, plus it is readily available.

Mike

[Branson]

To make sure I understand you, are you saying that the soft coal is the best, or have you actually tried the hard coal?

The best bituminous coal I've ever used, at least in the past 12 years, came from Pennsylvania.  The rest of what I wrote was that bituminous is what is sold out here for blacksmithing -- go to buy blacksmithing coal, and bituminous is what you get.  It seems to be the standard, and is what I've always used.  The Pennsylvania stuff was very clean, and produced almost no clinkers. 

When I got all the anthracite I have, smiths around here opined it was just not the right stuff to be using.   I never was quite sure of the reason for this.

[keykeeper]

I don't know much about blacksmithing so I have to ask why you don't use anthracite coal?  It is very low in sulphur, has a high BTU content, and low emissions.  It would seem ideal to me, plus it is readily available.

Mike

There is what is called a "coking button" which relates to the temp, time burning, etc. that good coal makes coke. Coke is the fuel used for smithing, not the coal itself. Coke is the pure carbon, that burns with the greatest heat available with the least impurities.

Anthracite just doesn't "coke up" like bituminous coal does. It is a totally different creature to work with.

Anthracite is great to heat with, and some smith's like to work with it.

check out this page from the wayback machine for our association website. More than you wanna know about coal, i'm sure. http://web.archive.org/web/20051222074423/http://www.appaltree.net/aba/coalspecs.htm

[JACKP]

I found coal. 

Hills Coal Company
PO Box 148
Fries, Virginia 24330
Phone: (276)236-3507

Actual Location
7080 Carrollton Pike
Galax, Va 24333

Bituminous Coal , $125.00 per ton

I loaded 1,140 lbs on my ford ranger in 15 minutes with a snow shovel (Should have taken the wife).

That should last a while.

Most of the coal companies in the references you find on the forums are no longer in buisness.
Glad to find these very nice people. Best folks I ever delt with.

Thanks for all the help, and hope this helps someone.
They are actually half way between Hillsville and Galax on Highway 58

Jack

[bear_man]

I always thought that Anthracite was the hardest/cleanest coal, Bituminous was mid-range, and Lignite was the softest/dirtiest. Anyone care to eddicate me, please? (I just thought it courious that no one's mentioned Lignite.)