Frosty Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 This is REALLY short notice, MY BAD. I don't know where my mind went. We are having a meeting of the Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths at Jim Hutto's http://www.arcticanvil.com/index.html THIS Saturday, July 9th. We usually start around 9:00am and it lasts till folk leave around 4:00 sometimes 5:00. We usually do club business after lunch or whenever someone CAN pester me enough to call order. Everything but the club business is open to the public so please feel free to stop by and join in. We'll be talking about and trying some of the things we learned at the recent Mark Aspery class. I'm sure there will be talk about ordering Kast-O-Lite bubble alumina refractory though I'm going to collect some ore info from the supplier before pitching anything . . . again. I wasn't going to tell anybody but I discovered why I couldn't get even decent heat in the new portable forge. I was blaming it on using a really dense high alumina castable refractory which no doubt didn't help so got to looking and figured a bubble alumina refractory would do the trick. . . Can't hurt is the truth. The sad truth and humiliating reality of why my portable forge wouldn't make heat? I made an incredibly Romper Room arithmetic error. I'd built the thing with more than double what 3/4" burners can bring to welding temp. No wonder medium orange was as good as it got. Yeah, Frosty who is always making a point of it being the VOLUME that counts in a forge SCREWED UP THE VOLUME by a factor of TWO! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teenylittlemetalguy Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 I am hoping we could talk about the hardware store cash account you mentioned. I could really use a discount there. Also has anyone else tried out Lee Sauders way of forging corners? I did a couple and was surprised how well it works, I hope to do a couple more at the the meeting. I wouldn't feel too bad about making the error Frosty, we all looked at it and it didn't dawn on us to check...at least you have an excuse... As a last note, I am looking for some scrap grating to purchase if anyone has some. I need some 16-24" square chunk to make a small plasma cutting table with. I will bring cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 6, 2016 Author Share Posted July 6, 2016 I'd forgotten about the AIH account application. That is a topic to talk about a discount is a good thing. No, I haven't tried making a corner with Lee's method. Does that put you on the meeting demonstrator roster? It never occurred to me I'd blown such a basic dimension, I'm always harping on volume as the main factor for building forges. I was sketching up a ribbon burner and it dawned on me a ribbon burner with 2x the output area of a 3/4" burner was half what the footprint of half the forge called for. What a head slapping moment. Scrap grating? Are you talking about bar grate like on cat walks, ramps, etc? I'll ask around next time I'm out. Jer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teenylittlemetalguy Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 sorry, speaking short hand again... can't you tell what I meant in my head? a scrap piece of bar grating is exactly what I am after. All I find in town is big pieces, figured someone in the group may have a small scrap of it. I will be happy to do the demo as long as everyone knows my total experience with it is two corners. but I was encouraged enough by both of them to adopt it as my main way to make a corner. sounds like the ribbon burner is already making improvements in the forge and you haven't even built the burner yet.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 7, 2016 Author Share Posted July 7, 2016 I have a small piece of bar grate but it's galvanized so maybe not what you want to be running a plasma torch over. I'll bring it you can decide. I'll be happy to watch you make corners with that method anybody who wants to use it will have to practice anyway so there's not much difference if you have it down pat, you're way ahead of the rest of us. If by improvements you mean discovering design flaws in the rest of the forge I guess ribbon burners do help. Jer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 7, 2016 Author Share Posted July 7, 2016 I just got off the phone with Travis at EJ Bartells regarding KastOLite 30. They carry it in stock though they're out right now, they move a lot of it and he says it sould be in next week with the regular shipment. The price in Anchorage is $77.78 per 55lb. bag. The differences between the KastOLite 30 and the KastOLite 97 is about 300f lower max working temp so that's not an issue. It's thermal conductivity is only slightly higher so again not a significant difference. It's as cast strength is a little better but heat cured strength is quite a bit better, still not a real issue. It's plenty hard and flux resistant enough for hot facing our forges. The real differences to me are price (WOO HOO!!) and availability, it's usually at the outlet on Whitney Rd.in Anchorage, they're just out till the next shipment gets in. I'm in for a bag, I can stop sitting with a calculator and sweating coverage better yet, I'll be spending LESS. Jer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teenylittlemetalguy Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 That bar grate sounds good. I can etch the galv off no sweat. I like the sound of the kastolite 30! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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