June 25, 2007

A bit of cool discovery near the house...

You may know that I am having a lot of fun learning blacksmithing. Being able to make something nice from just a chunk of raw metal is pure magic to me still and looking at photos of some of the masters, I realize that as much as I am "getting there" I still have a long long long way to go... I use a propane forge that I built myself (the other cool thing is that you start with an anvil and a few tools and you then proceed to make any other tool you need -- customized to fit you and your work habits.) but I want to build a coal forge as there are things that coal can do that propane cannot. The only problem is the source of good coal. There is a farrier's shop in Everett about an hour or so drive to my south (a very fun place to visit) but they only have the very soft eastern Washington Bituminous -- OK but not optimal. I knew that there was coal mining near where we live as well as the huge mine in Bellingham and a friend of mine turned me on to the fact that there was a large tailings pile accessible to my 4X4 truck. I revisited it today and spent some time wandering around -- there is more coal than I will ever use in several lifetimes and it is a very nice hard shiny Anthracite!!! Some interesting development has been going on at the site too:
coal_mine_near_house.jpg
coal_mine_near_house_sk8_park.jpg
Some people have been grading it, bringing in a few traffic barriers and building quite the nice skate park! Cool! The coal tailings extend for quite a ways into the brush so I can continue to harvest without disturbing their space. Posted by DaveH at June 25, 2007 7:03 PM
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