Greetings,

I am casting my first forge with castolyte in a 30 gallon drum that i have converted to a forge. I made all the forms and prepared the castolyte and to my horror I found that i didnt have enough castolyte to finish the job. I can run to the store tomorrow but what i am wondering is if I can pour new castolyte on top of already dry castolyte and still have a good bond between the two pours.

Thanks

More than likely it should be ok, just leave the surface rough where the second pour would contact the first, even jagged and uneven as well.

welder19

Could scratch it with some wire like old school plaster and lath was done for the base coats.
Phil

I can tell you what I would do... that is drill some small holes in the set side and put some inconel wire in there to span the seam... kind of like rebar...

It's just a forge! Not the Taj Mahal. Wham, bam, thank you Ma'm! 30 gallon! Wow, you can make a pretty good forge in a 5 gallon bucket!

There is no other answer unless you want to knock it out and start over.

It's just a forge! Not the Taj Mahal. Wham, bam, thank you Mam! 30 gallon! Wow, you can make a pretty good forge in a 5 gallon bucket!

There is no other answer unless you want to knock it out and start over.

I trimmed off the bottom and top 4 inches or so, leaving the ribbed section in the middle for rigidity and to hold the castolyte in place. I will post a photo when done. The work area of the forge is essentially a 9" diameter circle that has been squared up on the bottom to make an arch providing a 9" floor for hard bricks if I want. The length is 18" and there is enough for three burners and a ceramic blanket inside if I want less volume and more heat. All of the inlet pipes for the burners are cast with a half an inch flare so I dont have to use flares in the forge. The roof and side walls are 4.5 inch thick castolyte.

Should be pretty impressive in heat. I think I might just use insulated fire brick for the doors though.

Larry and Grant are on it - just put a little something in there to bind it all together and go for the second round - I've done it a number of times on casting furnaces - some times it's a little slap-dash but it'll hold heat and do what ya want.