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I Forge Iron

Soft vs Hard Firebricks?


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Soft: high insulation value, (forge heats up *fast*) easily cut/shaped, low wear life if stuff gets rubbed against it. Good for walls, ceilings of a forge. Most types not very flux resistant. Light if weight is a concern.

Hard: heat hog takes a lot more time/gas to bring up to temp---on the other hand heats up metal fast for production work once to temp as it acts as a temperature buffer. Rugged can have pieces drug over it all the time. More flux resistant (generally) good for floors of the forge. Takes diamond saw to shape. Heavy.

Many forge use *both* Hard firebrick for floor and soft for walls and ceilings.

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Takes diamond saw to shape. Heavy.


A masonry cutting fiber disc works rather well, you can cut 3 or 4 hard bricks with a good disc on a 4 1/2 inch grinder. They are not very expensive.

A metal cutting fiber disc will also work in a pinch, but even the good discs last about 1 brick if.

Phil
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A masonry cutting fiber disc works rather well, you can cut 3 or 4 hard bricks with a good disc on a 4 1/2 inch grinder. They are not very expensive.

A metal cutting fiber disc will also work in a pinch, but even the good discs last about 1 brick if.

Phil

I scored mine and cracked them with a masons hammer and it worked well too.
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  • 4 years later...

Compared to a lot of forums, IFI doesn't have as many new threads. A 5 year old thread could easily be on the second page. Plus I imagine very few people worry about checking the date.

I use forums as a source of information and ideas. I'd say from that perspective having the same information presented from multiple view points is value added. 

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 nd how does that answer differ from my post from 5 years ago?  Except I addressed their use in blacksmith forges!

Pish posh, dont get bent out of shape, they werent saying you were wrong. Theres thousands of people on this site every week and old forums are bound to get a new injection every once in a while, bottom line, every thread benefits from searchable keywords when we do the Boolean math underlying the search algorithm, so if anything he just boosted your original threads relevance when someone starts looking. I am a little upset to hear that I'm only blacksmithing when I'm burning coal though. Perhaps i should change my business cards to 60% blacksmith, 40% alternative fuel hot metal manipulator. :)

J

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