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[hoardac]

Any body make their own coal grates for a non gassifier. going to burn a little coal and just wondering what other people have done. I have a welder and torch, just need some ideas since I have never burnt it except mixed into the wood. Or a link to ones that work well would be ok also. -23 last night supposed to be colder tonight, Getting sick of working nights outside this winter.

[artbaldoni]

I made a frame out of 1" angle with some cross members for support and covered it with expanded metal. It was originally just for experimentation but has been working so well I just kept using it.
I use a 3 prong cultivating hoe to "shake" out the ash. Just stab it into the coal bed and move back and forth a couple inches. Do this all over the coal. The ash sifts down into the ash pan. I then take a 1/4" rod poker and run under the coal bed right on top or the grate. Seems to be working well. Just be sure to turn the fan off before ash removal and don't "stir" the coal.

Maybe not the best solution but it works for a tightwad like me. The regular shaker grates for my stove are $300. I've got $20 in this setup.

[hoardac]

That sounds good I will give it a try thanks. How high is your grate of the bottom of the stove?

[artbaldoni]

NCs have fire brick, with spaces between them for forced draft, as the bottom of the firebox. I removed most of the firebrick which gave me a fully open 12"x24" bottom. I made the grate to fit this area. I still want to get some firebrick to line the sides of the firebox; not sure if having the, hotter than wood, coal in direct contact with the steel is a good idea. When you order the factory coal grates they recommend buying brick to line the firebox sides.

Had a 20 hour burn Saturday between loads in sub 20° temps.

For reference I used 6 cord from 28 Oct to 15 Feb.