Thread: Coke for a forge

My son and I went to Ironfest on the weekend. He has been building a forge for a while and its time to get some fuel.

Where do I buy 20-30kg of coke? I can drive to the Illawarra to buy a ton but we are very much at the beginning of this adventure. We are in the bottom of the Blue Mountains.

You could try old large Hospitals in your area that have a laundry run by a boiler or put an add in a Blue Mountains local paper. You should have asked the Blacksmiths at iron fest as I know some of them come from the Blue Mountains. You could also look at I Forge Iron site & look up Australian Blacksmith Members from B/Mountains, send them a pm. Hope this helps, Cheers John.

Depending on the specifics of the forge, chunk charcoal may work very well. And that is easy to make from wood scraps if you can't (or don't want to ) buy.

ron

Hi Sebastian,

See if there is a local blacksmith association, I know the victorian group sell by the bag or up to a full trailer load if you prefer..

Australian Blacksmiths Association (Vic) Inc. - For Sale

Regards
Ray

Hi,
If you were closer I would sell you some, but to start with I would just use charcoal. It is easier to light, can burn hotter and won't go out as quickly on you. The down side is you will use more. This way your son can get a taste of hot metal before you go buy a load of coke from coalcliff. When you do make sure you get 20 x 10.
Ewan

Try going to the bulk supplier with your own bag and shovel and you most likey be looked after

I built a forge mny yearss ago and fired it with coke , I burnt the end of the first bar I heated. I asked a blacksmith friend what I had done wrong and was told "never burn coke" you must burn small cracked coal. It worked!
Rowley

Another possibility is to take your trailer to the bulk coke supplier, fill it up with the good stuff, then sell the 'surplus' to the locals in the mountains - its getting on to winter and a lotof older houses probably have coke heaters & would be glad to get something that does not stink the house out like alot of so called 'coke' that has been offered around over the years (DAMHIK)

Also,the stuff doesn't go 'off' or rot if you keep it in a controlled pile so the weeds don't invade, or the gardeners don't start using it in their plant pots