Screening Ashes

First year with coal and going very well thanks to much info from this Forum. However I have saved all my ash in a trash can and have a lots of good coal mixed in . I have been burning pea and in the beginning it will slip through my grate. Also I am away for 10-12 hours during the day so have lost some fires , so I just clean it all out and start over. Has anyone had any luck screening the unburnt coal out ?

I have used a sifter to screen my ash. It was just a fine screen attached to a few boards. I sifted the ash for about two weeks. The smaller chunks that I recovered burned, but the mess I made for the amount of reclaimed coal that I got, I didn't think was worth it. To each their own.

When I sifted, I did it outside. Still a mess. You can definitely do it, just a matter of if you want to.

yes we have a sifter too. tho we seldom use it........our hand fed stove burns all the coal up most of the time......someone gave us this sifter I took some pics....enjoy

The mailbox that delivers black gold instead of bills! Sweet.

What is you time worth? How many dollars worth of coal do you think you can recover? If you have enough unburned coal to make it worthwild you must be overshaking you grates of using the wrong coal size or both. After saying that I'll tell you I'm not above grabbing a shiny piece of anthracite out of my ash pan if it is in plain sight but I refuse to paw through my stove waste anymore. The ash dust isn't good for your lungs either.