I saw in another post that they suggest going to a pottery place for clay. I called a local supplier and asked them about it. The man said he didn't know if it would stand anything past 2200 degrees. He thought I should try a local foundry supply. Any help or suggestions would be appriciated. Thanks Jerry P

you might try stove cement ...might even mix it with broken fire bricks...try one of the harware stores around you

Remember, the fire's heat will be traveling upwards, the clay you line a forge with doesn't have to handle welding temps, even if your coal/charcoal is at welding temperatures. I just finished lining my lively style forge recently and I used ground clay (dug out of the back yard) and kitty litter bentonite clay, should stand up for several years and I can always just re-line it.

There is a pottery place locally, but they keep hours that restrict my access to buying fire clay from them. If I need to re-line my forge any time soon, I will go through them.

What style forge are you lining?

Regards,
Tim

The clay that potters know as fire clay is very good for lining a forge. Add a material they call grog to it to help it dry and not crack. Be careful about the amout of water you add to. Less is better. For your purposes if it stick together enough not to break up when squezzed and droped one foot its good. Use maybe 30% grog or so.

However, I got by with clay from my back yard for three years with no problems. Stripped of the first foot and dug out the next foot.