Cal, please report back on your foray. I'd like to know about their prices and the quality of the coal, i.e. slag, etc. I bought in the past from GA farrier supply, which had good coal, but it's 2 1/2 hours drive for me, instead of 50 minutes to Blairsville.

Thanks,

Many thanks to John Zeigler for this follow-up information. Currently Georgia Coal only has Anthracite coal but will be receiving bituminous in a few weeks. Bituminous is the coal that Sidney Lee sells and is generally used for smithing. They won't know the price of the bituminous until receive it. Anthracite is a harder coal and doesn't produce coke but does tend to burn longer once lit. They sell it in 50# bags for $10/bag. For amounts of a ton, 40 bags, or more its $8/bag.

After talking to John, I decided not to stop. I've been happy with the Sidney Lee coal at $17.00. At starts easy and burns very clean.

The Forge welding class was good but I had very little success at getting the peices to weld together. The instructor David did a good job explaining & demonstrating but I just don't have the knack for it yet.

Well, I thought I have confidence and I even tried the file/borax mixture Brian Brazeal had so highly recommended, but I, too, have not practiced well with forge welding, except for making damascus. Promise to make some serious practice runs.
Back to coal. Can anyone give me the contact info for the Blairsville outfit? Googling does not help. I checked on the usefulness of anthracite, but bitumenous appears to work more comfortably. However, could we mix both, may be 50/50? And $8 per 50 lb bag sounds enticing, especially if we can get the bitumenous type for the same price. On the appalachian blacksmith chapter website they list coal suppliers in WV and NC selling for $30 per ton in larger quantities. So, $25 per 50 lb bag sounds like a serious mark-up to me.