If you are going to do forging and bending etc. many people use propane forges The bottled gas I don't know what it's called in your area.
Having spent the better part of my adult life dealing with coal fired boilers, and handing coal with a shovel and wheelbarrow or buggy to feed the stokers. A good respirator would help, but the small amounts and little handling a smith generally does with the coal/coke/charcoal there would be little coal dust flying about.
Knowing numerous smiths that use only gas as the fuel of choice far out number the purist using coal. I will say that there are some that use coal only because it is abundant, cheaper, and easy to get in their location. And would and have used bottled gas when available.
anvilfire siteiforge siteThe above two are filled with more info than one could even need. archives, links and listing of blacksmithing groups around the world. Anvil fire also has many plans and links to plans, and both have great sections on fuels.
some great free downloadable PDF on blacksmithing go towards the bottom of the page for the link, since copying the link never seems to work great stuff.
And don't forget using the search engines, as they will come up with sites dealing with forging from small to all the historical stuff.
I think the biggest reason the fuel is so varied today, is that the steel/iron is so much better and the variety is such that even with scrap or junkyard steel you can pick it for your intended purpose. And pretty much hit it on spot.
