Hey all,

I have another Old forge table I am trying to rehab.  I believe this table is a Champion no 8.

it came with original 400 blower that still works and the firebox with is pretty solid still. I located a tuyere from the same era.... and it matches some pictures i have seen...but i have not seen this kind of grate on firebox before in the pic you will see that it dips down into the tuyere about 2 1/2 inches. This Clinker breaker actually come out of the tuyere about 1 inch.... So I have a problem.... other than that it mates up well and once i get it drilled and threaded i can mate them up..... but before i do that anyone have any genius Ideas about what to do about the Clinker breaker?

 

 

The breaker is meant to swing in to the outer slots so if they are not a matched pair you can always make a spacer out of some pipe to get the correct height.

I'm no expert, but I think that that's the way the whirlwind firepots were designed. I have one with a seized up clinker breaker; I just use a pick to go in from the front and poke them down. 

Thanks Foxfire thats kind what i was looking at as it does make contact with each slot not sure if it lines up or not as i have to hold it up there and rotate as same time. need that third hand!

 

 

That is what it is. I have never used one that seems to work. I have never seen a new one. What I see is what you have. The clinker breaker swings side to side under the slots. The weighted handle keeps it centered. Problem: the clinker breaker is 1/4-1/2 inch UNDER the slots.  What does that do for clearing the holes? 

The one I use time to time must be cleared out with a fire poker. 

So looking at the Canedy Otto brand this weekend.  It has a ball with a slotted hole. It rotates side to side. So what on earth clears ckinker from the slot? Rotating it side to side? ? ? ? ?

So the one I built is similar to centour forge.  A ball.  Rotated inside a slot. It chews up everything in its path and spits it out the ash dump. Only one that makes sense.

 

I imagine that the slotted ones break the surface tension on the hot, molten clinker. Thats just a wild guess, though. 

In that forge I think it is more for diverting the air flow to different parts of the fire than it is for breaking clinkers. 

It does something....else. That is sure. It don't break up any clinker to my knowledge. I should take a pic of my ash dump pan. It is pea sized and smaller ground clinker and a small bit of coke.

My clinker breaker is exactly like that. Never used it tho. My clinker never ends up stuck in the slots. When I'm lazy, I sometimes end up with a clinker that is a foamy impression of the bottom 2 inches of my firepot, but still nothing in the slots. I'm guessing that's more a characteristic of the coal I use (which has always been the Saltfork Craftsmen coal).

My buddy has the same pot and it works fine although he likes to use a grate partly cause he doesn't need a fire that deep and the handle isn't easy to get to. I know the breaker works well because I burned up one of his grates...