The coal I learned on was Pocahontas. It gave a clean fire and just a little white ash, we could run the forge for six to eight hours before having a clinker problem.
We recently purchased from that same supplier and what we got looks _mostly_ the same as the old stuff but has some bigger chunks in it too. This stuff is producing large amounts of orangey-brown ash, I have to clean out the firepot after about 3 hours of work.
Now, on the day we purchased, the supplier was in the process of moving their coal piles and had bagged up all their loose smithing coal. We got the stuff from the top of the palettes, which I suspect was from the bottom of the pile (which would help explain the small rocks we've been finding).
So my question is: Should I attribute this unfortunate behaviour of this load of coal to the fact that it was the dregs of the pile? Or Should I come to the sad conclusion that the quality of Pocahontas coal has changed in the last few years?
- Carl West Prospect Hill Forge: The Blacksmithing Classroom