Andrew Martin Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Decided to try something new today, something completely out of my area of expertise. I built an Aristotle furnace to try out my new box bellows with. Well, learned how not to run an Aristotle furnace. Do not try to use dampish or otherwise moist charcoal. I did, but an hour and three pounds of fresh pine charcoal later, my little rod of 1/4 rd mild still wasn't melting at all. At least it was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I did find some clinkers in the ashes that were slightly magnetic, so I guess it wasn't a complete failure. Here they are on the right: And here are pics of the furnace: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 I don't understand the Aristotle part of the name. However it looks to me like the blast blows straight through it. So does any side blast but the trench tends to contain the fire in a smaller area than your little bloomery type furnace. If you were TRYING to melt the stock in it close up the opening across from the blast pipe and either elevate the blast or dig a hole below the level. I'd make it taller too say 3' or better. The second would be a general description of a melter rather than a forge simply because I'm not sure what you had in mind. They're two different furnaces. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Martin Posted November 6, 2016 Author Share Posted November 6, 2016 Frosty, I don't really understand the name either, but that's what the fellow(Skip Williams, IIRC) who invented the design calls it. The trench is for removing the bloom otherwise youd have to pry it out from the top. The hole between the trench and shaft is closed with a block of adobe during use. I loosely based the design off a pdf written by Lee Sauder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Dave Budd did one of these a while ago, dont know if he put it on here or facebook but it may be worthwhile asking him for a link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 It's called an Aristotle Furnace because it was first described by Aristotle I believe and you apear to have gotten it a bit wrong, there is a very good you tube vid of a gentleman demonstrating one, half an hour to produce a useable bloom I think it was and once removed you can fire it back up again. There are also some decent design plans on the web from they who worked it out in the first place. i have intentions of having a go myself once I get my box bellows installed in the forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Martin Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 iron dwarf, I did read the post by Dave Budd on here awhile back, ever since then I have wanted to play with one of these little furnaces. Smoggy, I think I watched that same vid on youtube. I'm pretty confident the wet charcoal was where I went wrong. I think someone on this site said a few weeks ago that wetting your coal eats up BTU's...wish I had remembered that tidbit before I fired up the furnace! I found the link to the pdf that has the design I used: http://www.leesauder.com/pdfs/Aristotle's Steel.pdf The only thing I changed on the design was the addition of the bloom-removal trench- I was taught never to reach over the fire.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Not the info I was thiking of but essentually the same. Diverting from the design is where you have gone wrong, nothing to do with damp charcoal, that'll dry out in short order. It took quite some experimenting to get the dimentions for this furnace correct adding a completely new feature makes what you have not an Aristitle Furnace. The bloom is removed from the top of the furnace with a pair of tongs when the charcoal is burned out, Upon doing so it can immeadiately be recharge for another burn. It is dependant on the airflow to make it work, change that, and it no longer works. You have plans, stick to them next time, once you can get it working relyably then is the time to "fiddle" with the design if you feel you must and not before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Martin Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 8 hours ago, Smoggy said: Not the info I was thiking of but essentually the same. Diverting from the design is where you have gone wrong, nothing to do with damp charcoal, that'll dry out in short order. It took quite some experimenting to get the dimentions for this furnace correct adding a completely new feature makes what you have not an Aristitle Furnace. The bloom is removed from the top of the furnace with a pair of tongs when the charcoal is burned out, Upon doing so it can immeadiately be recharge for another burn. It is dependant on the airflow to make it work, change that, and it no longer works. You have plans, stick to them next time, once you can get it working relyably then is the time to "fiddle" with the design if you feel you must and not before. Thank you for the very good advice Smoggy, sometimes I try to overthink and "improve" things when they don't need to be. It is not infrequently that I need to be reminded to KISS! I think I will rebuild the furnace and have another go next weekend (if it stops raining). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 No problem Andrew, just make sure you follow the dimensions and other info provided by Lee, as I understand it they are somewhat critical to success, yes when you gain experience and understand it's workings you likely can "deviate" a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNewman Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 One of our OABA members demoed this furnace at a meeting a few years ago. Another member who works as a machinist at a university took a sample of the output to work and did some analysis of it. Mild steel went in the carbon content of what came out was basically mild steel with huge grain structure. I think the carbon content actually went down rather than up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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