thecelticforge Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 For years uncounted, I have put my fly ash in holes in the drive way or just piled it into a small hill. Now I am reading articles about the dangers of fly ash. I am thinking about putting it in a bag and taking it to the landfill. Everyone's input is wanted. I don't know whether the stuff is dangerous or not, but I will err on the side of caution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Wow, that's a pretty big forge if you can generate electricity from it too. Where did you find your electrostatic precipitators for your flue gases? Ebay? OK, enough of the smartXXX, John. What we get left in a forge is bottom ash and clinker, and is mostly inert. Mercury, sulfur and other reactive particles literally go up in smoke, and power plants have to trap them. Disposal is the problem. A smith would have to work hard to generate enough fly ash in a lifetime to be a problem. Every smith working in America today would probably not burn as much coal in a year as one power plant does in a day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_ash On the other hand, finding the piles of clinker and bottom ash are the best indicators of archeological sites for old furnaces and forges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecelticforge Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 On the other hand, finding the piles of clinker and bottom ash are the best indicators of archeological sites for old furnaces and forges. I did notice that. When I was in WV I had to move about 10 cubic yards to make room for a new fence line. There were perfectly preserved treasures in it. Sardine cans at the lowest level, Vienia sausage cans, a burned woolen shirt, and countless steel Pabst Blue Ribbon cans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 1/8" inch of ash is all over my roof framing and shop shelves. It just stays there. The clinker/ash mixture from the fire pots goes on the driveway. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyGeorge Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I too have always just dumped my ash and clinkers in the driveway. Never had anyone compain and haven't noticed any problems yet. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Driveway, Hmmmm. Now I know where mine is going to go. Thanks guys! Never gave it any thought before as to disposal. Mark<>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Every thing has a use if you do a bit of lateral thinking. All of my hammer scale I sweep up with a magnet and put into cans which I then give to a friend of mine who is a potter.He grinds up the scale to a powder and uses it as a glaze for his medieval pots - iron oxide. Any of his medieval tiles he has as 'seconds' I get to line the bottom of my medieval forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecelticforge Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Every thing has a use if you do a bit of lateral thinking. All of my hammer scale I sweep up with a magnet and put into cans which I then give to a friend of mine who is a potter.He grinds up the scale to a powder and uses it as a glaze for his medieval pots - iron oxide. Any of his medieval tiles he has as 'seconds' I get to line the bottom of my medieval forge. I save my iron scale for the Gypsies when they come through. 10 bucks an ounce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I collect my scale to use as "ore" in bloomery smelting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecelticforge Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 I collect my scale to use as "ore" in bloomery smelting. Can you give me your recipe for that? I have never tried to make a bloom myself, just helped others. It seems straight forward. Do you get steel or iron from a scale bloom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce wilcock Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 make a wood mould ,mix a little cement powder with the ash clinkers and make clinker blocks ,i have made loads over the years ,and used them in the garden , and the last made a side for the coal bunker ,i liked the idea of using them for the coal bunker . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Let me quote myself and then answer the other question: "I have posted on this a number of times. I was a member of a team doing experimental archeology on Northern European Short Stack Bloomeries---the principals presented a paper at the IronMasters conference that was held in Athens, OH on the 10 years of experiments they had done, and that was about 10 years ago now IIRC! Our bloomeries ended up being cob after trying a number of methods, clay, clay and wattle, etc. The recipe we use is: 3 shovelfuls of silty dirt, 2 head sized bundles of chopped straw and 1 shovelful of dry powdered clay, (bentonite from a feed store will work---we used to dig our clay out of a creekbed in the early days). Mix thoroughly with the absolute minimum amount of water necessary to make what looks like dirty straw. We mixed by hand, ugh! To start dig an 8" or so deep round bottomed hole the dia of a 5 gal plastic paint bucket. Seat said bucket in the hole and start building a thick wall around it---note that keying it into the ground surface will help prevent a "leak" along the bottom edge. When you get up near the raised section of the bucket remove it and smooth down the interior---you don't want the charge hanging up during smelting. then replace the bucket near the top and continue up tapering the wall thickness slightly as you go up. repeat until you are about 4-5' high. We would leave an opening for the tuyere by taking 2 tin cans and removing both ends and building them into the wall slightly above ground level (end to end to get the length needed). We would also make a firebrick "door" into the bottom side to allow retrieving the bloom without knocking over the furnace. When done let dry overnight and then next morning, with the door open, start a wood fire in the furnace to help dry it out. Continue feeding it all day. As evening approaches build up the fire to preheat the furnace and start a charcoal heap in the bottom. When you are ready to run, close and cob in the door, put the tuyere into the hole left for it and cob any holes around it. Fill the furnace with charcoal and start blowing. When the fire reaches the top and the exhaust gases catch with a whoosh, start adding the ore and more charcoal alternating. Note a better furnace will have the interior taper opposite the height so that the charge is less likely to hang up while it is working it's way down---we would finesses this some while smoothing the interior. "The Mastery and Uses of Fire in Antiquity", Rehder, has a "foolproof" bloomery plans in an appendix using modern refractories. In our early "clay" trials we would reserve about 1/3 of the clay for fixing cracks during the run. Using cob we now reserve about two handfuls of mix to cover "smokers", pieces of straw that go from the outside to the inside and so "smoke" when it's in use." Back to real time! Scale is basically magnetite ore---the black sand of the japanese tatara process. Using a bloomery you can get any and every-thing from very low carbon wrought iron through high carbon wrought iron "steel" through even cast iron *depending*! Time and temperature affect the uptake of carbon in the process and fuel size and amount of blowing can affect decarburization. Takes a while to learn the parameters of *your* furnace. When we started we were glad to get enough for a fish hook; when I moved away we were getting 15 pound blooms on a regular basis. Most folks hve trouble finding ore---especially as taconite pellets are *terrible* for this type of bloomery. Consolidating the bloom is an art too---using a wooden hammer for the first heats is suggested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip in china Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I have a small muddy patch round the back of my new forge. So I just dump all my ash there. Eventually it will be quite a decent surface. I am in no hurry. At the old shop I laid a path in the same way. Just always dumped my ash and clinker there. After that was completed I wanted to extend the shop out at the back so used to throw my ash out there. Then when I could be bothered I would mix up some concrete with the ash and anything else that was lying around- old bottles, broken bricks etc and do bulk in fill. It was all ready for the top, smooth skim when I left. So I don't know if it ever got finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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