Buddy and I are building a forge but can't seem to find anyone in town that sells the fuel we need. Any other forge nerds know where we could find it? We've tried home depot and lowes, as well as a tractor supply place but no luck. Thanks!
So I've run out of the smithing coal I bought for like 6 dollars a bag last summer. I don't like using charcoal that much, plus it burns really fast and I'd like to avoid going out in public often because of the virus. There aren't a lot of coal yards in my area and I did some research and haven't found any that seem to carry bituminous. I got mine from a landscaping supply. Does anyone know of any kinds of businesses besides coal yards and landscape supply that might have it? Sorry, I know this is a sort of weird question, but I don't really want to pay a lot more for bituminous coal from Ebay. Thanks!
How rare is this stuff? I've had a few forts now where I couldn't find any, and my last 2, currently still alive, do not have any on the maps. One is undergoing a siege and well everyone is going to die, I have 11 left, so I did did a map reveal, nothing. I have another that's doing really well and I didn't want to spoil anything so I just did prospector, for the list of what ores and stuff are on the map, again, nothing.
I can manage, and I can dig down to get the magma smelters going, but I was just wondering if this is a usual occurrence or if my last few forts have just been lucky.
As in the title, I just started smithing but I'd rather run a coal forge than propane. I've been searching online the better part of two days looking for a local place I could purchase from but have had no luck.
The best alternative I've found is anthracite from nearby Tractor Supply but if it could be avoided I'd love to get some proper coal/Coke
I spent all morning calling coal supply places, and everyone sells anthracite. Anybody know of a place nearish where I can get some bituminous?
I've been working with hardwood coal and obviously it doesn't get as hot and burns faster, throws an idiotic amount of spark so I want to get away from using it. Now that I'm out of this coal, I'd like to buy some bituminous coal. Being in Arizona, there's not a coal mine around here so I have to get it shipped, but I'm not sure on the price vs what I get out if it. Can someone clarify what kind of use I'd get out of 50lbs for $37 from pieh?
I am having trouble making coke from bituminous coal and tasks related to that.
I have setup a stockpile to accept lignite and bituminous coal by setting it up as a custom stockpile and going through the custom stockpile settings: Stone -> Economic -> bituminous coal and: Stone -> Economic -> Lignite
This stockpile is set to "Will take from anywhere"
However none of the bituminous coal that is on the ground in my fort is being carried to the stockpile. None of them are forbidden, and all of them are in accessible areas of my fort.
I have successfully turned two pieces of bituminous coal into coke only because those two pieces were placed in the general stone stockpile prior to the creation of the new stockpile I created purely for BC and lignite.
Now, whenever I que a "Make coke from bituminous coal" order at the smelter I get a job cancellation announcement:
"Urist cancels Make coke from bituminous coal: Needs bituminous coal"
So to sum up:
- Dwarves won't carry BC to appropriate stockpile.
- The smelter won't recognize the existence of BC not in stockpiles and cancels jobs accordingly.
Anybody have any thoughts?
Thank you in advance for your help.
I've looked at the wiki extensively, and as I understand it, I'd need to make one piece of charcoal from wood, then burn my bituminous coal into a net profit of two coke units.
But after that, how do I utilize the coke for fuel instead of burning more wood into charcoal? I haven't found magma yet, and would really prefer to save my wood for barrels, bins, and beds.
I'm looking for coal for blacksmithing (and an anvil, and a cross peen hammer), and I haven't been able to get in touch with anyone at the big name companies around here, so I don't know if they will even sell to the wandering visitor, but does anyone here know where to get some bituminous coal?
Related: if you need to get rid of some wood I'll take it for burning. I don't know how much my car can carry but I'll take as much as I can load in.
I recently decided that I wanted to branch out and try some other fuels, as since I have started I have been using charcoal but have been having a hard time getting quality charcoal in my home town. After some research, I found a couple places within a three hour drive that sell coal, and they are of really different quality and price, so I was hoping for some anecdotes or wisdom to help me decide which product to try first.
The first option is a $7 100lb bag from a hardware store about two and a half hours NE of town, so accounting for my gas in the car, it will likely be about $30-40 round trip and for the 100lb coal. They let me know it comes from the Big Horn Basin near Sheridan, WY. Doing some research online, the coal from this seems to match the sub-bituminous rating as the BTU/LB ranges from 8,500 to 11,000, sulfur content is low, and ash between 4% and 6%.
The other supplier is about one and a half hours and told me that his coal comes from SW Colorado and E Utah, and is $17 for a 50lb bag (so with fuel it is probably about $30-35 for 50lb or $45-50 for 100lbs). From what he told me and what I could find online, coal from that region may have a higher BTU/lb, slightly lower sulfur, and less ash, but there is quite a bit from the area that has similar stats to the first coal.
Saving time and a bit on gas makes the two be fairly similar in overall price in my mind, but I am wondering anyone would mind sharing with me what they would do? Like I said before, I have only used charcoal and am uncertain what to expect from the coal and what qualities will make one coal better than the other. Thanks in advance!
Edit: I am also considering ordering some online from either Centaur Forge ($49 for 50lbs, including shipping) or Pocahontas blacksmith coal from Penn Coal, which is $15 + shipping for 50lbs. Any stories for this either?
Anthracite is the superior coal! There I've said it. Discuss
I am a woodworker and use steel branding irons to add customization to my work when people request it. I am doing an old German style Christmas market and am currently using a homemade propane paint can forge to heat up my branding irons. I want to switch to using coal potentially for the ambiance and “wow” factor of it. (Sounds dumb but the second I brand something and the smoke goes up I instantly get at least 4x the amount of customers to my booth). My question is on the economics of it. My branding irons are 2”x2” (about 5cm x 5cm) and I don’t need to get them red hot just starting to get to a faint dull red to use them. 80 % of the time the coal would just be going at a slow burn sitting idle waiting to heat up an iron so whatever forge system I would be using basically would be just blowing enough to keep the coal going. I want to run it for about 8 hours a day. How much coal should I expect to go through per day?
