How do you make coke for a coal forge?. And what is the difference between coke and coal?

[Ross Vosloo 84]

thats very similar, almost identical in fact to my forge, although mine is steel framed with brick lining. the pic i have is before the updates and upgrades, where i went from concrete to brick, lost the concrete "lid", and a couple of other fine tuning changes.

i have used purely charcoal in it before and have a couple of observations, 1, very very hot; 2, much cleaner burn, hardly any smoke; 3, it throws sparks like an unmanned flame thrower. 

i do use a small amount of charcoal to start the forge up every time, so i can try and get some pics of the sparks thrown from just that. 

[Gerhard Gerber 80]

@Ross Vosloo no idea what the determining factor is, but I get a lot of variance in the amount of sparks between different batches of  charcoal 

[Zeb Camper 439]

This is the only existing photo of my old one burning coal. I got it off my FB page.

[Brian Dougherty 421]

2 hours ago, Gerhard said:

@Ross Vosloo no idea what the determining factor is, but I get a lot of variance in the amount of sparks between different batches of  charcoal 

I seem to remember some discussions on here about that, and it is at least partly related to the wood species used to make the charcoal. 

[Ross Vosloo 84]

45 minutes ago, Brian Dougherty said:

I seem to remember some discussions on here about that, and it is at least partly related to the wood species used to make the charcoal. 

 

2 hours ago, Gerhard said:

@Ross Vosloo no idea what the determining factor is, but I get a lot of variance in the amount of sparks between different batches of  charcoal 

i know most of our charcoal here is hard woods poached from mozambique. its a shame to know that even the "official" stuff is all from that neck of the woods

[Conner Michaux 48]

Okay thanks guys. Im on vacation right now so i cant reaspond to many of these yet.

[Conner Michaux 48]

Is it possible to use charcoal in a coal forge??

 

Because I have like 4 big bags of it that need to be used up.

Edited August 14, 2018 by Conner Michaux

[Alan Longmire 1,269]

That particular forge will work even better with charcoal than it does with coal.

[Conner Michaux 48]

Oh! well that is perfect. 

[Charles du Preez 250]

Plus during the cool down you can add a griddle and some steak.

[Conner Michaux 48]

4 hours ago, Charles du Preez said:

Plus during the cool down you can add a griddle and some steak.

That is probably the best idea I have ever heard... I grill a good steak. the trick is, that you cover the steak in dry rub then keep sprinkling it over the meat as it cooks.

 

Also, I just lit the forge today and it did amazing. Heats up metal really fast. I was using Charcoal and adding little handfuls of real coal every few minutes. Is the sticky melted coal stuff coke? I noticed massive chunks blocking up my way to put metal in (not really melted more like firm playdough)

[Ross Vosloo 84]

14 hours ago, Conner Michaux said:

Is it possible to use charcoal in a coal forge??

 

Because I have like 4 big bags of it that need to be used up.

 

 

14 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

That particular forge will work even better with charcoal than it does with coal.

I'm also thinking of firing up today using only charcoal. My coal had been really dirty of late and it's just not letting me forge weld  gonna see if charcoal only fixes that. 

Just cleaned it out ready for charcoal only 

[Alan Longmire 1,269]

The gooey stuff is coal tar.  That is part of the process of getting coke, it shows you're halfway there.  When I start a forge with coal only, no leftover coke, it takes 20-30 minutes to get a usable fire.  Before it's coked up it is just a gummy mess that doesn't heat steel.  That's why I try to keep a good bit of coke set aside for the next fire.

[Conner Michaux 48]

How do I figure out whats coke and whats clinker?

[Gerhard Gerber 80]

5 hours ago, Ross Vosloo said:

 

Just cleaned it out ready for charcoal only 

Not much to add except seeing this design and my struggles of last Saturday I feel like kicking myself........

[Brian Dougherty 421]

16 minutes ago, Conner Michaux said:

How do I figure out whats coke and whats clinker?

Clinker is dense, and often kind of glassy looking.  Coke is very light and porous.

[Gerhard Gerber 80]

No use starting a new thread.....

I was on the farm with my cousin the past weekend, there used to be a school on the farm and they used coal in the hot water donkeys.

The stuff has been lying in the wind and weather from the 60's or 70's, I managed to gather about half a feed bags worth, which was about all I could carry!

Will it still be good?

[Alan Longmire 1,269]

Yes indeed!  It's a rock, after all.  

[Ross Vosloo 84]

On 9/14/2018 at 1:10 PM, Alan Longmire said:

Yes indeed!  It's a rock, after all.  

Well, dead trees that are now rock

on another note, thank you @Alan Longmire, your tip on burning your coal fire for 30min has finally enabled me to successfully weld up my first damascus billet 

Edited September 17, 2018 by Ross Vosloo