stovestoker Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I have a small clay forge that has the "clay before using" on the bottom. I was wondering what you guys thought about this stuff. Also how thick should it be on the pan? You can do a search on Amazon. I couldn't figure out how to link. Also if someone can point me to a tutorial, that would be swell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I'm assuming you have a small cast iron forge that says 'clay before using' . If so, It's up to you. I've seen too many people water dowse a gallon of coal with 2 gallons of water, and then dump the whole mess outside a working fire. Broken cast iron forge guaranteed. When I do hammer-ins or demos, I don't let anybody water the coal at my station. I make great stuff with no water added, and the smoke stays down, if it's crowded with humanity. If you introduce green coal at the edges of the fire, and bunch it in as need dictates, you don't need to water it. It will coke up as you bunch it in. Clay, or refractory cement, might last a few forging episodes till it cracks and breaks out when you take your pokey stick and try to clean the fire. Cast iron expands and contracts at a different rate than fired clay does, it's a matter of time till it lumps out and fails. You'll have improved results if it's just you running the forge, and no imbecicles jumping in to show you how incompetent they are at forging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Just use clay, refractory cement is for sticking fire brick together in furnaces. Just ram in some slightly damp clay around 3/4"-1" thick, it's not critical. If backyard clay degrades or gets damaged it's easy to clean out. Refractory cement on the other hand is GLUE and will be a PITA to remove. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Use vermiculite and Portland cement. I think it is a 2 part Portland to 1 part fine vermiculite. Works well and keeps the forge light. You can put lifting rings in it also. Let's you lift the lining out for transport if you want. Put a small layer of mix in then put a piece of stucco mesh or some 9 wire made into rings (just to help hold the mix) then cover up the wire with the rest of mix. Going on 5 years with mine and that is with weekend forging all day on Friday Saturday and Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Mike does your coal come as fines and doesn't coke into chunks unless it's applied wet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stovestoker Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Mike-hr, gad I can be your 666th post.haha. so are you saying not use anything on the bottom of the forge? Also when folks say just use clay, what kind of clay? Clay for pottery at a hobby store? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 You can dig it out of the yard if you live on clayey soil, a river bank, where ever. All it does is moderate the heat so the cast iron pan doesn't suffer high differential heating. Without clay the area around the air grate will be a LOT hotter than 6" our let alone near the edge. Cast iron does NOT like differential heating and cooling, it's brittle with large crystal boundaries so it'll break pretty easily. Don't use water but if you just MUST wet the fire, just dribble a LITTLE. Wetting one area of hot cast iron especially in thin section can crack it almost instantly. All the clay is is a heat shield so the pan heats more evenly, it doesn't need to be anything special, just dirt will work. Though loose, unpacked dirt can interfere with forging if you're not careful. If the dirt is a little damp and can be squeezed into a lump in your hand it's good. That's IT, just damp soil and a wooden mallet is all the magic you need. Heck just slap it in with your hand, take your shoe off or find a smooth rock. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 You can buy fireclay at masonry supply places and find mix recipes on the net. When I've clayed I've used creek clay mixed with sand and ashes, rammed it in and gone back with a mallet as it dried closing up cracks. Nowadays I generally use adobe as I have that to hand. For my current coal forge I don't clay as it's an all steel construction and so doesn't crack like cast iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I've thought about this cast iron forge thing a lot. When I first got my portable forge, a group elder saw me using it bare, and convinced me to clay the bottom. I appreciated his advise, and did so. A couple hammer-ins later, another elder walked by and told me my forge looked to be choked up with clinkers, and he would show me how to clean it. He grabbed my pokey tool, and proceeded to dig out several dinner plate sized clinkers, most of which happened to be my clay forge lining. Okay, there's got to be a happy medium somewhere. At another meet, we were practicing forge welding, and I was having very sporadic success rates, because I had to pile a whole lot of coal up on the flat pan to get a neutral fire. I analyzed all this data, and came up with this steel plate with a CO2 tank top I machined to fit in the pan, atop the air inlet. This gizmo has been in service for 6 or 7 years now, and I don't worry about it anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian.pierson Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I had a standard pump rivet forge years ago. I didn't know to clay it but worked the fire on top of it. I had it for a couple of years until I went to pull it out of storage in the spring. The pan split down the middle during the winter cold. The cast iron was stressed during my forging weekends and the cold contracted the pan splitting it. You probably won't have to worry about it in Texas but thought I would share. Brian Pierson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heelerau Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I have a rivet forge I clayed using stuff just dug out of the garden, you just have to reclay as it breaks up. I don't think you have to get to technical, just a good inch or so and let it dry a few days, fill in any cracks, let them dry.Then light a fire and let it get up to temp slowly for the first time. I just repair the lining from time to time as needed. Cheers Gordon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken G Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I have used 3 parts sand and 1 part Portland cement and it works great for me. The best thing is it is available at the local big box store and it's cheap. Occasionally I need to patch a crack or the area in the fire bowl. It's pretty durable I tried Cat litter years ago and it crumbled very easily and I would have to reline after every forge session. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stovestoker Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 DSCF0032.JPGI've thought about this cast iron forge thing a lot. When I first got my portable forge, a group elder saw me using it bare, and convinced me to clay the bottom. I appreciated his advise, and did so. A couple hammer-ins later, another elder walked by and told me my forge looked to be choked up with clinkers, and he would show me how to clean it. He grabbed my pokey tool, and proceeded to dig out several dinner plate sized clinkers, most of which happened to be my clay forge lining. Okay, there's got to be a happy medium somewhere. At another meet, we were practicing forge welding, and I was having very sporadic success rates, because I had to pile a whole lot of coal up on the flat pan to get a neutral fire. I analyzed all this data, and came up with this steel plate with a CO2 tank top I machined to fit in the pan, ato p the air inlet. This gizmo has been in service for 6 or 7 years now, and I don't worry about it anymore. DSCF0031.JPG This is all very good info. I like how everyone has something slightly different that works for them. I thought about using thick plate one the bottom. I just wast sure if it would transfer heat to the cast iron. May it does but not enough to worry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stovestoker Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 Figure it would be a good idea to post pics. the guys I bought it from cut this thick steel plate as a liner. He never tried it though You can see how flat it is. One of the reasons I thought about clay was to form a bowl shaped fire pot. Maybe I can modify the plate to be more bowl shaped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 The steel plate will do the job just fine by conducting the heat pretty evenly and the air gap between it and the cast forge pan will further shield the pan. Now you can come up with something to act as a fire pot. I like a duck's nest and use bricks to shape the fire. Bricks are my favorite I can make any shape fire I need, small like a coffee cut or big like a bucket. Just move the bricks. you'll need to stack the bricks a couple deep but that's hardly worth mentioning. you'll get a duck's nest figured out in short order. If you don't settle on something else of course. <wink> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.