My $80 coal experiment was a total bust

I bought a bag of 'high grade' bituminous coal from a new supplier online for about eighty bucks, thinking it would be better for forge welding. It was way too soft and crumbly, turning to dust and clogging my air grate before I even got a good fire going. I wasted a whole Saturday afternoon trying to make it work before I had to dump it out and start over with my usual stuff. Has anyone else had a bad run with a specific coal type they thought would be good?

3 comments

3 Comments

annas8729d ago

Yeah, the "turning to dust" part is the worst. Makes you wonder if some suppliers are just selling the leftover fines from good coal as a premium product. Have you tried contacting them for a refund?

john_flores29d ago

Man, that's a total bummer about the coal turning to dust right away. I had a similar thing happen with some "blacksmith grade" coal that was just brittle garbage. It makes the whole forge smell wrong and you can't get any heat. Did the supplier have any pictures of the actual lump size, or was it all stock photos?

gavin_hill2721d ago

The "smell wrong" part is so real. My neighbor tried to forge with bad coal once and it stank up the whole block like burning plastic.