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I Forge Iron

another newbie


MotoMike

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Hi Everyone.  I know it has been a while since I posted my family anvil.  Finally started moving towards a forge.  Here is my progess so far.  It is a 3/4 inch  burner of the Reil design.  will I have enough burner for this forge?  My thoughts were to adjust the interior with Koawool to about 300 cu inches, split brick floor, rigidizer, then satinite. thought about the ITC 100 but the price of admission has me thinking I'll try it without first.   Probably put a hinge and latch on the cap for future maintenance.  Plan on putting porches on both ends to set bricks on to adjust the opening.  Any thoughts or recommendations are appreciated.  

Mike

 

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Mike

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I have Nalco 1144 colloidal silica for my rigidizer.  my concern is that it is a bit viscous to use a spray bottle to apply.  does anyone know if it can be diluted slightly with water?  MSDS seems to say everything that can be said but that.  even it's effect on a water flea. 

 

 

 

thanks in advance. 

 

Mike

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The Nalco 1144 data sheets give an SG of 1.29 and a 15 nm particle size. 

The concentration is higher than the commercial rigidizers that I have used, which had an SG of about 1.1, so you should have no problem diluting it with water to a similar concentration to the ones I've used.

They've soaked in very well and have stiffened the blanket to the full penetration depth on drying. Full rigidizing requires heat and I've not yet felt the overpowering urge to disassemble a working forge to find out how deep the rigidizing has gone, though I'm pretty sure it won't have got hot enough to harden beyond an inch or so.

 

Something to be aware of for those making their own rigidizer from "fumed silica" and water is that the particle size is very important for getting high-concentration suspensions. From reading as much as I can find online, about 15 nm seems to allow the highest concentration. 

Before I started researching it, I'd already tried Cab-O-Sil M5 fumed Silica and just could not get the SG of a clear suspension above about 1.03, even with the addition of Caustic Soda and every readily-available surfactant I could find.

Mixing immediately before application to get a cloudy liquid with higher SG left most of the extra solids as a snowy surface layer that didn't help at all when it came to applying a hard-face coating on top. 

Multiple applications of the clear M5 suspension seemed to give similar results to a single application of the commercial stuff, but the drying time between each application was excessive. It might be ok for those in warmer, drier climes though. Here in North-West England, it's not something I'd recommend.

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Thanks very much for all the help.

 

2 layers of 1 inch 8pound Kaowool.  rigidizer was no problem.  lightly wetted with water spray before hand then  put the rigidizer in a spray bottle.  turns out the viscosity issue was not issue at all.  in the plastic bottle when I shook it, it seemed thick, but once opened it didn't seem much more viscous than water.  It sprayed fine.  got a nice even saturation on the wool shaking frequently.  then dried it for a while in front of my garage heater.  when I'm confident it is dry, I'll fire it to vitrify.  Satinite next and waiting for my order of Plistix from Wayne.  wish me luck.  

forge6.jpg

forge7.jpg

forge8.jpg

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I have set the rigidizer and have one coat of satinite on the blanket.  I don't think, given the quantity of satinite I have, even with the second coat that I'll reach a quarter inch thickness.  I have a pint of plistix coming from Wayne.  Should I get and apply more satinite till I reach the 1/4 inch, or will I be ok? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Your forge temperatures look good. But that very large exit flame is so reducing, that it is blue; not good. I hope you have plenty of cross breeze going in your shop. Just becuase the forge is done, that doesn't stop you from pulling the burner out and improving it in your spare time...

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Thomas, yeah, I got sloppy with that Plistix wash at the end.  I did brush it all off before I painted it:unsure:

Mikey, thanks for those comments.  I intend use it in an open garage door, but I am interested in what you suggest to improve it.  can you direct me to a link that would discuss what you are talking about.  I've searched and found lots of good information, but not specifically what you mean by reducing flame.  That image with the blue flame is running at only about 3 psi.   I know that there is always room for improvement and I'm all ears.    I still intend to fashion porches for front and rear.  

 

 

 

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Is there a special reason that the exhaust gasses will immediately run out the open door?  Reducing means creating Carbon Monoxide; *especially* if any exhaust has a chance of getting re-run through the burner.  I would suggest making a wheeled stand for it and parking it outside the open door when in use so hot gasses can rise outside your structure.  I have 10' walls, open gables and two 10'x10' roll up doors I use to ventilate my shop and have pretty much forgotten what a CO headache is like and I often run reducing for bladesmithing.

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Thanks for those inputs.   Well the garage is pretty leaky as it pertains to air.   open gables and open to the attic on one side.  might consider a co detector in there just to see.   I am not sure if there wasn't a slight breeze hitting the back mouse hole during that pic with the blue flames.   I built a Reil burner with the Bordeux (sp?) modification.  the plan I followed called for a 60,58 or 57 jet size.  since I had only a 57 that is the one I used.  Maybe I'll try and drill out a 60 size nipple and try that for the jet.  I forged the OD flare to about 1.3 inches.   mouse holes total about 22 square inches.  

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Put CO detectors through out the house. CO is invasively insidious and will seep through insulation, conduit, crawl spaces, attic, walls, . . anywhere. Expect it to show up in virtually any room in an attached house. Using the attic to vent CO is like using your shirt sleeve as a gas mask.

Safer than sorry is rule #1.

Frosty The Lucky.

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thanks for those recommendations.  I have two co detectors in the house.  the garage is not attached.  a CO detector is on the way for the garage.  I'll pick up a couple brass nipples and see if I can get the smaller bits locally on the way home today.  and give that a try. 

 

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thanks to all who've responded.  I have found some reading on the topic.  Does this sound right?  The large blue flame outside the forge is fuel burning once it exits the forge where it did not find enough air to burn and to no good purpose.  Besides wasting fuel it is increasing my co problem.    I will tackle that reducing flame problem and get it.  I initially intend to do small things to improve my skills.  leaf, bottle openers, hooks, punches and such.   eventually I'd like to make hammers and hatchets.  Maybe knives some day.  Should I shoot for a slightly reducing flame with those immediate and future goals in mind?

If changing to a smaller jet reduces or solves my reducing flame problem, would I expect the heat in the forge to drop off? 

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