[Sirrotica]

If you line a wood stove efficiently with firebrick it will save the stove from the higher heat of coal. My dad told me that years ago when everyone heated with wood and coal, they definitely used to throw some coal in with the wood fire to sustain a fire overnight.

I've seen some old cast iron stoves that were were designed to burn wood used to burn coal and they have sagged down the cast parts due to overheating/overfiring and lack of firebrick where it was needed.

In the early days of steel making anthracite blast furnaces were used to melt, pour and forge steel with so the capacity to melt steel is definitely there with coal.