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I Forge Iron

do I need to line my forge pot with refractory?


awoody1

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Welcome to the forum. Please use the *User CP* at the top of this page to add your location to your profile so people can tailor answers to your location.

Fire pots can be cast iron or fabricated from steel. Generally, cast iron firepots do not need to be lined with refractory. Steel firepots can also be used without refractory, but because of carbon content, may not last as long as cast iron.

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Welcome aboard Woody, glad to have ya. Please click User CP at the top of the page and add your general loocation. IFI is represented y members in more (lots more) than 50 countries and a lot of info is location specific.

Okay, my best educated guess for your specific qustion is: NO, 1/2" steel will last you many years once you develop sound fire management techniques. If you burn out a 1/2" welded steel firepot in oh say only one year od daily use a cast iron one wouldn't last you much if any longer. While cast iron doesn't suffer firedamage as easily as steel does it is a LOT more sensitive to thermal cycling and so more susceptible to cracking from expansion and contraction.

My advice is use it, keep a good layer of coal on the bottom for a heat shield and do NOT over blast it. Every once in a while just take a gander at it from underneath a little red is okay orange or hotter is not, take a look at the inside of the pot and examine what the fire itself looks like. It should be coming up through a bed of coal or preferably coke and delivering most of it's heat in your work zone. If most of the heat is in the bottom of or on one side of the firepot you need to experiment with different shapes of fire till it starts behaving properly.

Okay, them's my two bits but I'm more of a propane forge kind of guy so if one of the regular coal/coke users says something different I'd take their advice, I could be totally wrong.

If I am completely off base I'm blaming it on taking a batting lesson from a birch tree two months ago. A practice I discommend highly.

Frosty

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