@ Bentiron
Thanks for the information on the bronze alloys. I knew there would be issues with that already without having to read any books. ;)
I imagine that getting the right bronze scrap and additives is no doubt something that comes with lots of experience.
I was originally thinking about just casting in aluminum, but people on the model railroad forum suggest that casting parts in bronze makes for a much higher quality model that will bring far higher prices on the market, so I've decided to think about stepping up to bronze. I've never done bronze before.
@ ianinsa,
There are several reasons why I have decided to go with wood fuel. The main reason is that I have literally tons of it already for free. Any other souce of fuel would be an additional expendature. I don't mind doing things the old-fasioned way. A second reason is that I am in a restort area where many of the crafstman around here do their handicraft using "retro" technology. There will be people watching me cast metals. So it's more than just a mundane job. It's a bit of a theatrical production as well. I was even thinking about using a very large bellows, but I've decided not to go that route. So I will be using an electric powered blower. That's another issue too. I would really like to find, or build, a quite blower. I'll have to look into that.
You need to understand that my goal is not simply to cast metal in the most efficient or easy way that I can. Like I say, this is a whole theatrical production type of thing, but at the same time I'd like to cast some really good parts. I will be using the parts as well. So I'm killing two birds with one blast furnace here.
Oh, by the way, I actually have a Terry Aspin book. It's called Foundrywork for the Amateur - Workshop Practice Series number 4. This is a very old book that I've had for many years. It does have a very simple brick furnance shown. It's 18" square (outside measurement) with a 9" square cavity for the crucible. The outside of the bricks are wrapped with heavy sheet iron.
That "Pizza Oven" I was looking at actually has two layers of bricks. The inner bricks are firebrick whilst the outer bricks are just standard red bricks. I like that design. Seems like over kill for a pizza oven though.
Of course this is just the basic idea. I could even turn that up vertically and have it a vertical cylinder. It would probably be easiest to build horizontally then I could turn it up vertically after it has cured.
I guess when it comes to building the furnance it dosen't really matter what fuel will be used. The firebox would be seperate anyway. I think I'll just design my own furnace cavity kind of like this pizza oven on vertical.
@ Steve Sells,
Yes, I would like to get a furnace up and running so I can start casting. Nothing teaches better than actual experience. ;)
A furnace cavity is just a furnace cavity. That really shouldn't be a major factor in the actual process of casting. I just want something solid, permanent and pretty. I could even line it on the inside with something modern. That wouldn't be a problem. Except if I'm going to do that I better leave room for the liner.