Santiago Perez Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Hello everyone, I'm in the design stage of my new soft firebrick forge. Just wanted to share the design and ask for suggestions. Some considerations:The firebrick will not be exposed to the flame, I plan to cover it with refractory mortar. There will only be one burner located on top. I plan to user a blower. The whole structure will be encased in a metal shell. I'm a complete newbie so I was looking for a design that allows me to do some tool crafting (tongs, hammers, chisels, etc) while still be useful for heat treatment and knife forging. Right now it is based in this: , only with a bigger burning chamber. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd&mlteach Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Looks good so far but I would caution you in a few areas. One, leave it modular as you may find you need to adjust the firebox for some of your endeavors. Two, line those blocks with something as they are not really abrasive resistant and they WILL not hold up to the use of flux. It will eat through them sort of like pee does with snow. There are some coatings out there or you could just get a liner block, I did both. Also I guess you plan on drilling through the blocks for your burner. Please make sure your are outside and wear a respirator. Do a search for which coatings and where to buy, it will come up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timgunn1962 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I second the "keep it modular" approach. You can get a 152 x 152mm (6" x 6") chamber without cutting bricks if you just pin them together (i use 3/32"/2.4mm welding rod). You can usually make a D-bit from the rod itself that will drill the holes to stick the pins in; Just grind half the rod away at the end to give a cemicircular section for 1/2" or so; the"D" in D-bit. It works best with a starter hole, so to save damaging a twist drill by using it in the brick, I drill a hole through a piece of scrap wood, hold it against the brick and use it as the starter hole. The holes are small enough that they dont ruin the bricks once you take the pins out. For forging and HT, uncoated brick seems fine to me. I use a Venturi burner, so the flame speed may not be as high as yours. YMMV. Pee on snow might be a slight exaggeration, but you really don't want to be getting hot borax on Insulating Fire Bricks. The first, experimental, soft-brick forge I built had a 3/4" lower floor after a single days use at a hammerin, due to borax. The second one i made was very similar. I gave it a welded angle-iron frame because I needed to move it easily, so I didn't adopt the modular approach. I'll need to coat the floor if I ever weld in it. http://s667.beta.photobucket.com/user/timmgunn1962/media/Forge%20With%201inch%20Burner/DSCF0023.jpg.html?sort=3&o=12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santiago Perez Posted November 14, 2012 Author Share Posted November 14, 2012 I really like your design better than mine, so I'm stealing it :P. Thanks tim. About the exposed firebrick, I'm planning on using something akin to satanite to make a 1 inch layer of hard refractory. It will take some more time to heat up but I've rather have to wait and have the forge stay well. Thanks for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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