smithing coal

[blaksmth]

 Does anyone know where to find smithing coal here in Colo?

[JWBlair]

Don't know how current this is-


Colorado

Brighton Feed and Saddlery, 370 N. Main St. Brighton, CO 80601-1631. TEL: (303) 659-0721.
 Keyser Coal & Trucking, 601-11th, Greeley, CO. TEL: (970) 352-5957. (Only carry coke.)
American Coal Sales, Inc., 1325 W. 9th Ave, Denver, CO 80204. TEL: (303) 573-1210.
Mid-Continent Coal & Coke Co., 1058 100 Road, Carbondale, CO. TEL: (303) 963-2581.

[blaksmth]

 Thank you i am running low and am gonna have to locate some 

[Chris Treichel]

Making your own charcoal is really not that hard.  All it takes is a sealable barrel, a pipe and a fire.  There are lots of tutorials online and this way you can experiment with hard and softwoods.

What you want to do is seal the wood inside the barrel (such as an oil drum) which has had a pipe attached to vent escaping gases without letting the wood inside the barrel burn.  Build a fire arround or under the barrel and let it cook until you see that it is done venting gases. Let the fire burn out and everything cool off.  Inspect that everything has turned to charcoal and chop the charcoal into smaller pieces.  Thats pretty much it. 

[blaksmth]

What kind of wood is best? will pines work or maybe pinion? or does a person have to use oak?

[R.D.Metcalf]

What kind of wood is best? will pines work or maybe pinion? or does a person have to use oak?

I  use  charcoal  in  my forge  and  I  use  about  anything  I  can  get  my  hands  on,  mostly  pine.  I  do prefer  locust, oak,  and  hickory,  but  pine  works  just  fine for  me.  The  biggest  thing  with  charcoal  is  you  need  *alot*  of  it,  I  burn  from  180  to  200  pounds  at  a  time  and  still  run  through  it  like  a  dose  of  salts  through  a  midget.  But  it  is  cheap, renewable  and  easy to  make  once  you  get  a  feel  for  the  burn  times.  You  want  to  get  a  metallic "tink" sound  when  you  break your   charcoal,  but  dont  sweat  it  if  you  get  it  too  soft...its  still  useful  it  will  just  burn  quicker.  Make  sure  to  split  your  wood  no  bigger  than  two  inches thick it'll  be  easier  to  break.  and  it  will  char  quicker  and  more  thoroughly     

[David R. Pennington]

I have tried charcoal a little and find it is very clean but also creates a lot of sparks when you put the air to the fire. It also goes away quick. They use charcoal at the Fort Boonesborough site and make their own in the traditional way with a big stack of wood covered with dirt. The blacksmith there told me he likes cherry wood. I got the opportunity to use some real high grade metallurgical coal recently and it was very nice. It is being produced at a mine here in WV but is very hard to get in small quantities.

[blaksmth]

guess i will try to make some charcol and give it a try, here in So. East colo we had a mine in Trinidad that was producing smithing coal I contacted them to purchase some and they told me all they were selling was going to CHINA   , I am sure they are using it for industrial purposes and not thinking about weapon production ( HA), but they got shut down.

[anvil]

Just saw this. Where in S.E. Colo are you?  Carbondale is long closed. Trinidad coal is very dirty. I am in S.W.Colo near Durango.  Hesperus, King Coal mine has an outletthere.The price is Right and the drive is worth it, if Wolfcreek is open. Just head west on Hwy 160 til you hit Hesperus. Its between Durango and Mesa Verde.
Your next bet for great coal is thur the Rocky Mtn. Smiths, our state blacksmith assoc.  I believe there is some still available and last I heard the source is Colorado Springs. 
Its from back east and pricy. 

The outlet in Hesperus is not open all week, and I don't have there contact info. My email is. anvil144-at-gmail dot com. If you want to come this way, let me know and I'll get the info for you, or come and hang for a few days and wt til their open.

[wet willy]

FWIW, chatting with a blacksmith at a recent rondy, they were using hardwood lump charcoal purchased at a big box store. The bag said "Cowboy" brand. Charcoal briquettes, in addition to being historically incorrect, were claimed to not burn as hot as lump.

They use coal when they weld, as charcoal does not get hot enough. Most of their wares at the rondy were twisted iron: pan lifters, hooks, tripods, etc. They said some lump charcoal brand's pieces were too small, had too much dust, and sometimes clearly identifiable dimension lumber pieces.

[blaksmth]

Anvil,

 I live in Canon City

[Chuck Burrows]

Pine will work for making charcoal albeit hard wood will last longer - Tai Goo, one of the finest bladesmith's I know uses pine all the time.

Anvil - where you be in Durango? I'm south of town on La Posta Rd and my good buddy, Jerry Rodri who runs Nine Tngs Forge is just south of me...

[anvil]

Chuck, I have met you. I spent 2 years at the end of La Posta rd.  When I moved up there, the guy helping me dumped my camelback drill nearly in your driveway.  I'm now in Mancos. 

[ottawa]

if your thinking on making your own charecoal out of pine check out cunstruction site for their scrap that they trim off its already small and most the time its free for the asking

[Bombman]

Found this fairly detailed material at the National Park Service Archives. I found it to be educational regarding how the colliers of old made charcoal for blacksmiths. -LINK http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/popular/14/index.htm

[Virginiarifleman]

C heck some local pellet stove stores for Anthocite coal.its a bagged coal for household coal stoves made like a pellet stove.

[Hungry Horse]

 Home heating coal is worthless for smithing. I used charcoal once (first and last) and spent all my time shoveling in more charcoal. Get in touch with one of the several blacksmiths associations and get the right coal through them.

             Hungry Horse