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20 pound propane tank forge in progress


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Thanks Mike, the beauty of the cart is it cost 0$, made from all reclaimed materials (cannibalized BBQ grill and some heavy gauge sheet metal from a metal building).

Today we finished the bubble alunima coating. Had to put a layer about a third of the way up and let it set up then roll the forge and put the top layer in. I found an old pool noodle that fit the burner port so used some as a form to keep the port open. Also solved the secondary air problem a while back. Just had to insert the burner about a quarter inch deeper so now the choke works as it should.

Will let it cure overnight then fire it up tomorrow to slowly cure it.

2a8m7vk.jpg

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Fired it up a while ago and ran it at 3 psi for a few min. then gradually increased the psi and opened the air choke until it was running at 15 psi. The bubble alunima cured without any problems and it came up to yellow heat pretty quick.

I took another kiln shelf to block the rear port and found out we will not use kiln shelves for the doors. When the forge was shut off and cooling down we heard a ting and found the shelf to be cracked (sounded just like a blade ting when quenching wrong). So Debi wants to use soft fire bricks in a channel for the doors, that way we wont have to worry about transporting fragile kiln shelves.

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We all tend to forget that only refractories with high amounts of silica in them can be claimed as water resistant. High alumina kiln shelves have no more than trace amounts of silica, and therefore will absorb water vapor over time; they, as most refractories, must be forced dried before being  taken to incandescent temperatures, after long periods without use. And here you thought your oven was for cooking dinner :)

When it comes to doors, you are best off with a hard refractory; even fire brick; for these parts insulation value is a small matter. Mechanical toughness is a major factor.

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Good grief, I take a day for a club meeting and I miss a pun thread. DRATS! Oh well, complaining is fu tile.

Your forge is coming along really well What can your better half tell us about using Veegum? What does she think about what we're wanting to try using it for?

Frosty The Lucky.

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1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Good grief, I take a day for a club meeting and I miss a pun thread. DRATS! Oh well, complaining is fu tile.

Your forge is coming along really well What can your better half tell us about using Veegum? What does she think about what we're wanting to try using it for?

Frosty The Lucky.

She has only used it in certain pottery glazes and has no idea how it would work when mixed in a castable refractory or IR reflecting wash.

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2 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

She has only used it in certain pottery glazes and has no idea how it would work when mixed in a castable refractory or IR reflecting wash.

Hmmmm. How about kiln washes? What Mike and I are thinking about for the zircopax, kaolin, Veegum or zircopax, Veegum mixes are as kiln washes. Zircopax flour is also sold as a non stick IR re-radiating kiln wash component or glaze component. 

I'm wondering if Veegum'll plasticize Kast-O-Lite 30 for better results molding and forming but that's only one potential goodness that'll make keeping it on hand.

Mike and I are at a point of not really knowing enough to ask the right questions but we know that and are REALLY paying attention. Several of the guys in the club are pretty excited from doing a little reading too, we all know we're in dark territory but the bait smells SWEET. :)

Frosty The Lucky.

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6 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

My wife and I have had some heated discussions about kiln washes so we won't go there. She doesn't know how it will react, outside of the glaze formulas and is not into experimenting.

<sigh> 

Thank her for me please.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Will do, she was upset because our fur kid Daisy dog got bit by a copperhead and her foot (the dogs) swelled up to twice it's size. A quick trip to the vet was in order. The dog is going to be fine and on a 7 day course of antibiotics to prevent any secondary infection.

I finished the metal work on the forge. Welded together angle iron channels and welded them to the forge for the fire brick doors. We decided on soft firebrick because we have a lot of it from the kiln's. Also cut some kiln shelf for the floor. I will get some pictures of it running when the sun goes down. Probably will paint it black with 2000 degree high heat paint.

Front view would anyone believe me if I say I planned the channels to be on an angle?:D

nxt2rk.jpg

rear view

35cr9ea.jpg

 

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The first two pictures are just after firing it up.

 

 

After about ten min.

 

http://i68.tinypic.com/9k2g5x.jpg

Not sure about the kiln shelf floor, seems to be interrupting the flow (swirl) of the flame and the heat seems to be lower than before. I don't know if ITC100 or Plisitx would help or enlarging the orifice to the next drill size.

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I fixed the boo boo about the channel to hold the fire brick, cut it off and leveled it and welded it on again. I fired it up without the kiln shelf floor and it came up to yellow heat in 10 min. I put several pieces of scrap stock in and it got them to welding heat without a problem. I left them in to see if it would melt/burn them and it did not after 20 min. so I guess we are good to go. My wife says we don't need Plistix because bubble alunima is a reflective coating.

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With a bubble alumina floor you don't really need a kiln shelf IMHO.  It is certainly nice to have a replaceable floor, but the bubble alumina will protect your floor insulation pretty well if you aren't doing massive amounts of forge welding.

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She's close, bubble alumina IS an IR re-radiating material, it absorbs heat from the flame and the IR it sheds is what heats the stock. This is how a "Regernerative" furnace works. A zirconium kiln wash is a significantly better IR re-radiator that hard refractory, kiln shelf, etc. even rocks. If you've ever warmed a rock by the camp fire to tuck into your sleeping bag you have foot on experience with an IR re-radiating body. ;)

If your forge is working now then there's no pressing need to "improve" it. Don't fix it if it ain't broke.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Every new photo shows a better working forge than the last; excellent.

Why don't you tell us a little bit about your choice of carry handle; that is a subject on many builders minds, but it hardly ever comes up. I think this is mainly because, by the time we get to it, the urge to be none overwhelms us.

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The carry handle came from the cannibalized BBQ that someone dumped on our road. We recycled just about everything from it. The nice thing about this forge is it will reach welding heat but not get the steel so hot as to burn it to a crisp if left in too long, which I'm famous for doing.:)

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  • 9 months later...

 After using it for ten months and being mostly happy with it we decided to correct a minor flaw. The floor was concave and made getting small stock out a pain. Decided to use the rest of the bubble alumina to make the floor flat. That will slightly reduce the internal dimension. Don't know how it will affect the heat but if it cools down we will coat the interior with Metrikote from Wayne. Just have to fire it up to cure the bubble alumina now.

100_1961.thumb.JPG.faf2f0e9f972b628295ef0c92c59c6d9.JPG

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