First Forge Still in Progress

[Sparky93]

Here is the progress I have made on my first forge, I still need insulation and paint but other than that it is done.



Where is a good place to buy refractory blanket, and what kind do I need? Is the only option to order it or is there a store that sales it? If any body has some scrap they would be willing to part with PM me and maybe we can work something out.

[ThomasPowers]

You might check for a local boiler repair place and see if they will sell or give their scraps. You might check with a Ceramic supply place and see if they stock any. You might check under refractories in the yellowpages; but note that many places want to sell you a 25' box of kaowool where a 1' section will do you fine for a year or more!

I bought my last at Quad-State from a smith who will sell it to others by the foot.

[jcornell]

.Where is a good place to buy refractory blanket, and what kind do I need? .

Here's where I bought mine:

http://www.axner.com/superwoolfiber-1thicksoldpersqft.aspx

There's two types - soluble and non-soluble - the non-soluble stuff is pretty hard on your lungs if you inhale particles. You'll also need to coat it with something like ITC 100 or Plistix.

J

[kraythe]

Good start. I started round as well. There are a number of things you might run into that you need to be prepared for.

First of all dont use just insulation blanket for the whole thing. If you plan to do any forge welding the blanket will be eaten like cotton candy by the flux. In addition your forge won't have a stable temperature. I would recommend putting a layer of blanket in the bottom then sitting a hard firebrick in top of that. The firebrick will better tolerate borax spills and its thermal mass will heat up orange hot and stabilize the forge temp. After the brick is in start layering blanket to build the blanket up to the height of the brick. Then cover the whole thing with a thin layer of itc100. Also use non-ceramic blanket for your health. All can be obtained from the hitemp refractory store on eBay. They are highly recommended.

Finally you will need some bricks to make a door. Two insulating firebricks coated with ITC-100 on the inside will work well per side. Also make sure you have a back opening and insulating bricks to cover it. That way you can heat pieces in the middle and do work on longer stock.