On a typical day, Ken comes in and starts the coal fire. I haven’t done much of that since he has been helping me. He has been on vacation all this week so, the job falls to me for a while.
As I filled the coal bucket from the bin I thought about the tools design. It’s easy to fill, carry and empty and totes about 20 pounds of fuel. I remember seeing coal scuttles, or hods, and coal shovels around the neighborhood from my earliest days and those from older generations can probably say the same thing.
I am using about one bucket a day for my two to four hours of forge work so the bucket gets used just once a day and only travels 20’ to the bin and 20’ back. It has no other use and doesn’t go anywhere else so it is truly one of those dedicated tools.
This morning I turned to Google search to see what else I could find about coal buckets. Surprise. Surprise. There is more material about coal buckets than I would have ever imagined and I didn’t take the time to check out most of it. One piece which seemed worth bookmarking was from an old sheet metal book which gave instructions for making what they called the elliptical coal bucket.
I know, however, that I will never make one. I see I can get one from some hardware stores for under $20 brand new.
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