tips Need coal tips

[MightBeAPotato]

100 hours into the game, I've almost to steel and almost have a cementation furnace ready, but as I'm making more iron I'm getting worried about my black coal stash. I almost ran out before I did the first story chapter and grabbed all the black coal from the archives. I have 20 brown coal stacks thanks to massive deposits in the nearby claystone biome, and I've been using that for most fuel purposes, but I can't use it for bloomeries. Only black coal, and I haven't had any luck finding some even when following the propick to black coal locations. Is there a better method for fuel I should focus on like coke (which doesn't seem worth it since the wiki says it'll take 1 coal stack for just 8 coke pieces) or charcoal, which I haven't invested in much due to how quickly my iron axes break, and I need wood for finishing my windmill and leatherworking. I haven't found anthracite before so I don't know if thats an untapped option. At the moment I have 3 stacks of black coal but I'm sure I'll need of an alternative or a better resupply method for when I begin steel making. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR - Black coal is finite, I can't find more so I need tips before I burn it all on iron to begin steelmaking.

[Ryilo]

I usually just plant a lot of trees and make lots of charcoal. Cut them down, plant, and repeat...

[LadyWYT]

You need charcoal or coke to stick in the coffins with the iron; for the actual fuel piles you burn underneath the cementation furnace any coal should do. I think brown coal might be slightly more inefficient regarding burn time, but it's a negligible difference(only an extra piece or two). I tend to use brown coal when I can, since it tends to be rather easy to find and is less work than making charcoal. If I don't have access to brown coal though, then charcoal is my go-to since it's useful as both a fuel and carbonization material, and easy to acquire(if a bit tedious). I just build a fairly large charcoal pit in that case so that I will have plenty of charcoal to work with, for quite a while, before I need to actually fire up another charcoal pit.

As for black coal, I use it when I have it available and don't have something else on hand, but black coal I prefer to save for crucible smelting since it has the longest burn time.