Been using the same coal mix for years, but a cracked axe head made me rethink it.

I was working on a 3-pound camp axe last week and the weld at the poll cracked during the final heat treat. My buddy from the Tacoma guild took one look and said, 'Your fire's too dirty for that steel.' I'd been using a 70/30 bituminous coal to coke ratio for everything, thinking more coke was just a waste. Turns out the sulfur was making the welds brittle. Anyone have a good, clean mix for tool steel they'd recommend?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilykelly7d ago

Ugh, sulfur is the WORST. That's a brutal way to lose an axe. So your buddy said the fire was dirty... were you getting a lot of thick, yellow smoke? I've heard that's a dead giveaway for bad sulfur in the coal. What did your fire look like right before you pulled the steel?

caleb_ross129d ago

Man, sulfur wrecked a billet for me last month too.

the_joel8d ago

What kind of sulfur issue did you run into? Contamination in the fuel can really ruin the whole batch. It's such a frustrating thing to deal with.