Warning: last week a bad batch of coal nearly ruined my forge day

I fired up my forge last Tuesday and right away something smelled off, like rotten eggs mixed with sulfur. The coal was clumping and smoking way more than normal, and I couldn't get my fire past a dull orange for like 45 minutes. Turns out the supplier mixed in some low-grade industrial stuff that wasn't even proper blacksmith coal. Cost me a whole afternoon and 60 bucks worth of fuel I had to dump. Has anyone else had a supplier slip you bad coal like that without warning?

2 comments

2 Comments

calebw501mo ago

Can't trust suppliers to give you what they say anymore. Had a guy deliver "premium bituminous" last month. Looked like they scooped it straight off a parking lot. @elizabeth_king got the right idea though. Called my guy and raised absolute hell about the clinkers. Told him my forge looked like a garbage fire and my hammer was cold. He sent a replacement pallet of the good stuff. Surprise surprise it worked fine. Guess you gotta be the squeaky wheel.

elizabeth_king1mo ago

Man that stinks, sorry you got burned like that. I had the same thing happen a couple years back from a new supplier I was trying out. What finally worked for me was calling them up and being real specific about the grade I needed, like telling them the exact screen size and ash content I expected. They admitted they had a mix-up at the yard and ended up swapping out the rest of my order for free plus a discount on the next one. Might be worth reaching out even if you already dumped the stuff, just to see what they say.