Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Yep, I'm wanting a coal mine . Anyway, I've noticed we have several members at least close to coal mining country. I am completely out of coal and am making charcoal our of any wood that isn't holding something together. Once I can sell a few knives, I want to take a trip to a mine and get a truckload of coal for my forge. So, does anyone have any leads on mines close to you? Any contact info and especially a website would be great.

Thanks,

Eric AKA Angarth

A real quick google search turned up these guys.
http://www.penncoal.com/wst_page2.html

I will ask around and see what I can find out for you.

Great! Thanks guys. I've actually heard of Penncoal before. My own Google search turned up folks that will sell me about 100,000 metric tons at a time . That's a little more than I need right now, and that was their minimum order.

If you know of any coal fired power plants nearby you can go and have a chat with them. I haven't done it in a long time but when they sift the coal shipments they wind up with a lot of coal they can't use and they set it aside in heaps. Used to be you could go over there and ask for some and they'd be happy to let you have it. Dunno about now of course; those were older times after all.

Might be worth a try though.

Eledhwen

I think the nearest plant to us is nuclear. I think. I'll have to check and see. I know there are several in VA that are coal fired.

Lori's family around the Indiana/Kentucky border has coal mine(s) on their land. I'll enquire.

Greg wrote:Lori's family around the Indiana/Kentucky border has coal mine(s) on their land. I'll enquire.

Oh PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!! Sorry, I've got too much blood in my caffeine system. I would greatly appreciate it if you would ask.

I have made an enquiry, and am awaiting response. I told them ALL about you *chuckles*, and have assured them the best, so we're just waiting to hear if they'd be interested in parting with or selling some off, as I don't believe they're active at the moment. According to my brother-in-law, you can walk around and pick up raw coal straight off the ground at their place, and rumor has it there are piles coming out of the hillsides, so I wouldn't be surprised, were this to come to fruition, if they'd simply have you shoveling it yourself. So long as you don't mind that and a trip to KY/IN, we might be in business here.

The trick is to get you up there to pick up a truckload when Lori and I are visiting. THAT, my good sir, would be impressive.

Greg wrote:I have made an enquiry, and am awaiting response. I told them ALL about you *chuckles*,The trick is to get you up there to pick up a truckload when Lori and I are visiting. THAT, my good sir, would be impressive.

Well, shoot Greg, if you didn't want me to go up, you shouldn't have told me about it. But since you've told them all about me, I probably won't even be welcome in either of those states now!

Didn't you say Lori is INCREDIBLY homesick? Or perhaps you could keep her talking about home so she would GET homesick?

Due to finances, a trip out east could happen anywhere from this fall to a few years from now, but mark my words, it's going to happen. As for a Ranger moot, I can assure you that you'll be well-aware before I come on over. Gotta wrangle up the troops for at least an afternoon!

I gave up on using coal... the stuff I was getting around here was so high in sulphur that the steel would become brittle. I wasted a lot of effort making bad iron. Charcoal is by far the better fuel for a forge. Better yet is gas... the gas fired forges are super-clean.

Alas, when I was in Minnesota, I'd find chunks of coal on the railroad tracks.

You should check around your area for suppliers. Speak to other smiths. I live in the back end of nowhere New England, and I can drive 45 minutes to get coal from a store.

Tractor Supply just opened a store in our town. I tried to order coal and have it shipped to their store so I could pick it up. Evidently there is a law or something here in NC that prohibits it. Stores in other states can get it just fine, but not here in the good Old North State. However, I can drive over to our mountains and pick some up, or I can go to WV to get it myself. Just have to locate a mine.

Oh, local smiths are all scrambling lately or they are switching to another fuel source. I thought I found a source, but the coal clinkered up so badly I spent more time cleaning out the forge than I did forging.