Thought the old guys were wrong about coal grades, turns out I was

For years I ran whatever bituminous I could get cheap from the local supplier in Springfield. Kept wondering why my heat was inconsistent and I was burning through steel. After a guy at the MAC show last June told me to try a specific low-sulfur grade from a place in West Virginia, I gave it a shot. The difference in my forge welds was night and day. Anyone else stubbornly stick with bad fuel for too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

sandrat2413d ago

Wait, you mean you were out there for years running cheap bituminous without knowing what you were actually burning? That's a wild ride. I've seen guys do that and end up with half their forge eaten away, but you stuck with it. The inconsistency alone would have driven me nuts, especially when you're trying to get a clean weld. How did you not lose your mind on the cold mornings when the fire just wouldn't cooperate? I bet you learned more about fuel quality in that one MAC show chat than all those years of guesswork combined.

the_kevin13d ago

Bought a bag from a different supplier one time, swore it was anthracite based on how clean it burned, spent three hours trying to weld with it before I figured out it was just really well-screened bituminous that had been stored dry. @sandrat24, that was the same week I found out my forge floor had a crack running five inches deep from all the clinker buildup I'd been ignoring. Cold mornings I just started using a hairdryer to force air through until the coal caught, looked ridiculous but it worked.