Have you thought about contacting the United Steelworkers?  If *anyone* can
help you identify slag, coke, clinkers, etc., it would be someone from the
union.  Pennsylvania is the USW's District 10, and you can get some contact
info for a start here: http://www.usw.org/usw/program/content/1288.php

FYI, I grew up in a right-to-work state, so I'm passing on this union info
and recommendation through gritted teeth and fingers curled into claws.  And
I think my acid reflux just kicked in.


On 9/6/06, Meli Diamanti <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I'm looking for information to help me identify industrial waste and
> byproducts.
> In the past, I've had either glassy/bubbly or more metallic material
> that I have simply classified as slag.  But I now have a crew doing work
> in a steel town in western Pennsylvania (Braddock) and want to know
> whether there are distinctions I should be making within slag.  Also
> what does coke look like (made from coal for steel plant fuel)?  What
> about other coal waste ("clinkers")?  or other products that I would be
> likely to encounter in that setting.  I've seen everything from black to
> ashy beige materials, to a very blue-ish gray; some dense, some very
> light and full of air bubbles like pumice.  I can see that they are
> different materials, but don't know where to look, to learn how to
> better classify them.  So any descriptions, pictures, or directions to
> an informative website would be greatly appreciated.
> Melissa Diamanti
> Archaeological & Historical Consultants, Inc.
>