Coke/Coal

Advantages of our coke compared to coal:
A) Significantly less smoke/obnoxious fumes - means:
· greatly reduced health hazard to your lungs
· no odor on you or your  clothes
· no smoke and odor for your neighbors
· no soot in your shop
B) Our coke always delivers more BTU's than coal on a pound for pound basis. Use up to 50% less by weight than coal, no volatiles to burn off, no heat or time lost to coke the coal
C) Our coke and its dust will not spontaneously combust, explode or oxidize during storage. Our coke can be kept for years and not lose its potency.

Other advantages of our coke:
D)  Ignites easily, start forging in five minutes
E)  Pieces for forging are easy to arrange in the fire
F)  The fire in the forge stays centered and compact
G)  Our coke has the same size and forging characteristics, shipment after shipment.
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INSTRUCTIONS FOR STARTING, MANAGING, BANKING AND EXTINGUISHING OUR COKE:

A)  IGNITION
Our coke needs more air than coal. An electric blower with a rheostat (a light dimmer) or air gate is preferred over a hand-crank blower or bellows. A blower from an old vacuum cleaner, or equal, is needed for full heat potential. However, you can use a lower power or hand-crank blower with no
particular problems. Use what you have and see how it works. But remember, the more air, the hotter the fire.

As a general rule, just use "more" of what you use to start a coal fire.  It takes more heat to start our coke since it lacks volatiles that ignite at low temperatures.

B) FIRE MANAGEMENT
When using our coke your fire needs plenty of air, to start it and to keep it going. The intensity of the fire (with a little experience) can be controlled  by the amount of air. The more air the hotter the fire.  Since
our coke burns cleanly, there is not too much fire management to do. You will need to rake more coke into the fire from time to time as it is used.

DO NOT ADD FRESH COKE DIRECTLY ON TOP OF A HOT FIRE.
Since our coke contains some moisture even when dry to the touch, our fresh coke will popcorn when added to a hot fire. This is because the fire is so hot that it does not give the inherent moisture time to evaporate, it just turns to steam and pops. Use safety glasses and protective clothing.

Popcorning can be minimized or even  eliminated by heating our coke at the edge of the fire before adding. If you do forge welding, a clinker may form composed of excess welding flux, ash and scale from the metal. Just dig it out with your poker.

Since your coke fire burns hotter than an equivalent coal fire,  watch your work a little closely until you gain experience. You may burn your work if you are not careful. The fire can not be left without air as long as a coal fire. If you are not using it to heat metal, one needs to add air to the fire to keep it burning. Experience will be your guide.

C)  BANKING YOUR COKE FIRE
Since our coke has no volatiles, the fire will begin to bank when the air is cut. The hot fire will heat the firepot to a much higher temperature than coal. If you know you will be away for a time, you can try putting a piece of wood (like a piece of 2 by 4) into the center of the fire and leave the ash dump/gate open. Doing this can keep a fire going for about 25 to 30 minutes. With experience, you will find methods that work for you.

D) PUTTING OUT YOUR COKE FIRE
To put the fire out, just turn off the air and pull the fire apart. If you have a flat surface around your firepot, pull the fire onto that surface and let it go out. It may take some time for the firepot and the remaining coke to cool down. Another way is to scoop out the fire with a shovel and to dump it into a metal container. Use of water is not recommended. Putting water on a hot fire could cause an explosion. Do not pour water on the firepot to cool it since it will crack due to the high temperatures.