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I Forge Iron

Where to get Firebrick?


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I bought mine from a local brick manufacturer, they make them on site and have skids of them. They are real cheap there. I drive by the place everyday on the way to work and never gave it a thought till someone told me about it. Maybe look in the yellow pages for brick suppliers, you might be surprised, I was.

Adam

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You could try Tuckers Pottery. Still not Durham (Hwy7 & Leslie) but closer than Oakville, I just picked up some IFBs, kaowool and ITC 100 from them.

Call them, because not everything is listed on the website.

Tuckers


Thanks Mobility... I will probably need to get kaowool at some point anyway so good to know they have that also. Thanks for all the tips guys.

-W.
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Were I work they throw brick out by the ton. How soon do you need it?


Need is not urgent, I want to use it for my first forge and I have other materials and tools to collect. I'll PM you my telephone number and email address. Might be easier to communicate that way, if you don't want to call long distance I could always give you a ring.

Cheers, Will
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  • 3 years later...

depending on where you are, look into the skyline, see where there might be some boiler smoke stacks from powerstations, mills etc, and go and see if there are any bricks in their scrap/rubbish piles.

the local sugar mill has supplied me with at least 600 refractory bricks, and up to 100 refractory tiles (300mm sq by 50mm thick)

free.

they were more than happy to let me take them, and helped me with their forklift.

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  • 2 years later...

Did you find any cement? i am looking for refractory cement to use in my foundry too. I am Mitchell's corners in Durham Region, Ontario too.  Canadian Tire sells brick now if you need something quick. I use those to seal up the one end of my propane forge as they are cheap and easily replaced but it would be nice to have some real brick. Anyone know where to get the cement in a bag vs the expensive little tiny buckets i am finding or some real bricks.

 

Thanks

Chris

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How about trying the phone book and telephone rather than surfing the net? Call the local concrete supplier, if they don't carry fire brick they will know who does. Hard fire brick is tough but sucks up about 3x the fuel to get and keep hot. They don't insulate so you lose a lot of heat right through them.

Soft insulating fire brick is more efficient and the chamber gets hotter but they are more fragile and don't like thermal cycling so expect to replace them as they break up. Everything, EVERYTHING in the contact zone, (flame contact,) is a wear item not counting what happens when you or a ham handed student starts smacking the walls, roof and floor with sharp steel. It's gonna happen take it into account.

There is no need to cement brick in a forge and you WILL need to replace them every once in a while, they are a wear item don't make life harder on yourself than necessary. I'd have to ask one of my caster friends to render an opinion about melters so I'll stay mum.

Again, using the phone book call HVAC companies, they use refractories all the time and often have rems from furnace services and installs they'll sell for reasonable. They use as a daily matter of course: castable refractories of all types, patches, washes, hard and soft fire brick, ceramic blanket, stiffeners and washes. Once word got out about the local supplier, most of the ceramic suppliers stopped selling kiln making materials and went to clays and slips.

E.J. Bartell in Anchorage and most of the western half of the USA are my go to guys. However we did buy our zirconium silicate flour from Seattle Pottery supply for a small fraction of ITC products prices.

I've done a lot of searching for materials and supplies on the web and get tired of the browser, search engine and who knows who, loading my screen with things they THINK I should be interested in buying, INSTEAD of what I'm searching for! I'll take the telephone and a real human any time!

Frosty The Lucky.

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Hi frosty, thanks for the post. I only use the hard brick to temp seal the holes on either end of my forge as i have a pass through propane forge (attached image below) Inside is soft brick. I have a few different projects on the go so the only thing i really need is the refractory cement part for the smelter and hoping to find a bigger bag then the little 710ml ones i have found so far. It would be nice to have a few extra soft bricks though to have around. No worries i call around too as well as post up here. That way i cover all my bases. I have been staying away from technology as much as possible (Retired IT Director). I went so far the other way i am into the 1800's hehe (see volunteer position image).

My Propane forge. I also have a barrel forge i made for more traditional at home, and a traditional shop i work at on and off as i volunteer at a museum from the 1800's
19088464164_4c74b266e8_z.jpg
19711052475_74fb53fbfd_z.jpg

This image is the smelter i am making, I have everything already to go once i get the cement.

19711048785_5aa7904649_z.jpg

 

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Hehe, that's so true about it still being modern  then. I'm working my way down to the time scale the more I learn. :) 

Found this last night, may help as its close enough can drive from here no problem. 

http://www.tuckerspottery.com/tkps/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=171&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1

Edited by CIRON
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It's all good; I'm doing an 1880's demo at a Wild West re-enactment in a couple of weeks---I get to use coal and a bottom blast cast iron forge!  And I can use mild steel instead of wrought iron!  I'm rereading "Practical Blacksmithing", Richardson, for more flavour---written in 1889, 1890, 1891. (and my funny clothes are not so funny looking.)

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Ciron, try calling a brick yard. We just built a house last year and got firebrick and the mud for the fireplace from a local brick yard. I think the brick were $7 each and the mud was somethin like $40 for a 30lb(?) bag. Obviously your prices will probably be different but at least now you have another place to look.

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Do I need to ease up on the "parent's basement resident IT geek" jokes?

I tend to suggest the phone book as a matter of course so many kids now day don't know anything but the net.

That's a beautiful shop, well equipped and nicely laid out. It'd probably take me all of half an hour to get used to working in it. That's about how long it takes me to arrange my tools. :)

I'll reiterate the suggestion to talk to a commercial HVAC company or supplier. I buy 3,000f castable refractory in 50lb. bags as the small quantity they carry. They do carry premixed buckets of cements for patching and repairs. They don't carry ITC-100 or other ITC products but will order them on request. WAY better to just order your own if you really need it.

If you have trouble locating refractory, castable, rammable(plastic) etc. in bulk or bags, E.J. Bartell  ships and the North Dakota office is probably the closest.

I don't make anything from Bartell they're just the best game in our town and treat the blacksmith club very well. I can't go in to pick up anything without leaving with Kaowool, fire brick rems and occasionally a refractory they'd like me to test in the forge.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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  • 5 years later...

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