Anyone use Anthracite coal at home?

[Amishcountry]

For home backyard purposes only, do any of you use coal to build your fires and mantain heat once your wood fire is started? Add it after you have a good wood fire start?

Not talking commercial here, just backyard pizza. Just thinking that some coal would go a long way to keeping the heat up.

Newbbee curiosity???

[dmun]

The famous NYC pizza is exclusively coal fired. Their ovens are very different from ours, but one thing that has to happen is that the coal has to be burned on a grate so it gets air from underneath. The common wisdom is that coal ovens don't get as hot as wood ones, but I have my doubts, they make steel in coal fired furnaces, after all. I think with judicious use of the draft door between pizzas you could get the oven to any heat level you wanted.

[Amishcountry]

Dmun, Thanx for your reply, good point about a grate to hold the coal so air can get underneath.

I had a Colebrookdale(sp) English built, small woodstove in a previous home. It was a cool little unit with a shaker grate ashpan setup, and the coal would burn cleanly for many many hours. Rememberance got me thinking....

I have been researching plans for a scratch build, primarily pizza oven, but would like to do some bread and meat roasting as well. If I go with this project, I will start in the spring.

Your "geodesic" dome is absolutely amazing . Your design, brick cutting, and construction are a work of art!!

I will be watching and admiring your progress, as you are very talented and gifted.