Coal Sizing in the Same Bag and Most the Same

Does everyone get this mix? For reference to old rusted trivet is 4 inches from flat on right to arc on bottom on left Right is Blaschack left is Kimmels why two of the bucket escapes me sorry.

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What size is it supposed to be? Next time use a dollar bill as reference. Easier to visualize. I used Reading nut and it looked a lot like the stuff on right. Was borderline stove size.

Supposed to be nut

We have private label bagged coal that is supposed to be Blashack ,it too looks like yours on the right. I don't mind the big pieces,it's all the dust,rice,buck & pea that is mixed in that I don't like.

My notes from this year's purchases:
The bagged Blaschak "nut" size was all the size of large grapes & smaller, with a lot of fines (too small for "nut", I think).
Reading's bagged "stove" size was consistently 95% the size of lemons - oranges and no fines (what I expected).
Reading's "nut" size bought in bulk by the same dealer was at least 95% golf ball or egg size and no fines (what I expected) and has been consistently this size since I started buying bulk Reading in 1980 from this dealer.
The most consistent bagged "nut" size I found was Franklin brand (off-brand made by Blaschak?)...it was just like buying Reading's bulk.

The bagged Kimmels 'nut from TSC has been better uniform in size compared to the Reading, (full of fines), I burned at the beginning of the season, and comparable to Blaschak I burned 2 yrs ago.

blacshk is over rated I burnad n had lot o smoke n priccey! not bad but over ramped they do have junk to like all mines !!!!!!!!!!

michaelanthony wrote:The bagged Kimmels 'nut from TSC has been better uniform in size compared to the Reading, (full of fines), I burned at the beginning of the season, and comparable to Blaschak I burned 2 yrs ago.

That's what I found as well. Of course they only had the two pallets to tease us with and haven't had coal since but I can get Kimmel's if I'm willing to drive twenty miles or so. I am and will be tomorrow.

The wife picked up some Blaschak yesterday and it is a watery slurry of everything. Kimmel's has been much more uniform in size (nut) and it's clean.

ddahlgren wrote:Does everyone get this mix? For reference to old rusted trivet is 4 inches from flat on right to arc on bottom on left Right is Blaschack left is Kimmels why two of the bucket escapes me sorry.

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So much of this depends on a number of actors and factors.
the three of them being the bulk and bag market and rail car loads.

The issue is large and has many parts:

1.the coal is either reclaimed from the old mined out workings using drag lines
and tracked excavators and and bulldozers for strip mining.

2. the coal is reclaimed from "Gob" waste coal piles.

3. the coal is deep mined underground In many places. Colorado being one of them and
Alabama being another here in the states.

4. the process of haulage and then breaking and screening then becomes an issue. as well as cleaning-
removing pieces of wooden rail ties and rock..

5. the screening process involves inclined screens or Bradford Breakers depending on the end user(mine).

6.the inclined screen is a multi deck screen or numerous screens in series with the different size screen
mesh that will screen out smaller and smaller pieces as it travels down the 21 degree slope screen.

7. depending on the "mine owner" an inclined screen could have 1,2 3, 4 or more decks
to screen out egg, stove, nut, barley, buckwheat or rice coal sizes..

8. The other issue is screen blinding where material blocks the screen mesh deck affecting its ability to cut out the smaller size pieces of coal.

9. some operations are better than others at screening coal products and some are not.

10. having said that, one must understand that anthracite coal(the burning rock) is sedimentary and will break into smaller pieces when transported or repeatedly handled prior to its being delivered to the bagging bin or to an end user that buys in bulk.

11.Many retailers buy by the carload and simply request one size and in the process the trip from the mine load out to the coal yard makes for a lot of fines and smaller coal after the train ride from the mine.

12. the same issues occur with bagged coal as well on its journey from the bagging plant to the palletizing machine through the pallet wrapper and into storage where it settles and grinds against the coal in the bag and from there itis then loaded onto a semi trailer and transported to the retailer over X miles which also forces the pallets of bags to settle even more. trailer loads of bagged coal and salt are no different if they are on an open flat bed, the driver has to stop after a few miles and re tighten the ratchet straps again because of settling in the bags.

"Some" mines and packers have stringent guidelines for their coal sizing and maintain it through the use of a sample spliter that separate runs of coal loads and then they put the coal through sifting sieves to gauge the size of the broken coal that they are bagging.

Its a seller market as long as they compete with high oil prices.

Well.i know that I do not have to worry about the coal I buy having any time on a rail car or being from Colorado or Alabama .It gets loaded on a truck & transported here from the mines in central Pa.less than 50 mile truck trip.

When I started burning 5 yrs ago blaschak nut was nut size and has been getting smaller every year with alot more pea in it. I have gone to a nut/stove mix due to this and next year I will look at reading nut. For me these two burn similar with similar ash and I will make the change only due to all the pea in blaschak.

lzaharis wrote:
10. having said that one must understand that anthracite coal(the burning rock) is sedimentary and will break into smaller pieces when transported or repeatedly handled prior to its being delivered to the bagging bin or to an end user that buys in bulk.

Thanks for the explanation. I see this when I scoop my coal from the coal stash I have upstairs to my 5 gallon bucket that I take to the downstairs stove. I take care not to "drop" the coal into the bucket, mostly for dust control, but I'm always surprised at the amount of fines that end up on the bottom of the bucket. If the blue ladies are dancing I'll go ahead and throw the fines in but doing that on a slower fire can really clog the air through the coal bed. Lisa