I built a gas forge a few years back out of a pearlite insulator, but I never put a refractory coating so it began melting pretty quickly, I ditched it and made two solid fuel forges some time later but recently as it got colder I decided to work on my propane forge so I could work in my dads shop. The forge is a cylindrical stainless steel can with a pearlite insulator (I forget the exact recipe but I think it was something along the lines of a pearlite aluminum oxide mix) When I came back to the forge I had more knowledge so I acquired two pounds of satanite and installed fire bricks in the base and sides for better structural support and insulation. The Satanite bonded to the firebricks very well, but when I thought everything was going well on the second coat almost half of the satanite delaminated from the pearlite ceiling. In the end I lost pretty much all of my satanite and ended mixing the leftover slurry with firebrick and pearlite "mud" as a temporary patch for the exposed section of the ceiling. I don't really have any confidence that the temporary patch will hold the heat terribly well but I cant see many alternatives with my limited supplies. What refractory options do I have, and what materials would be best to fix my problem? (I don't have much cash but I could spend a bit if I need new materials)

(Note: I'm having trouble uploading a photo to the topic, I tried to describe what I could but if anyone knows what the problem is I could post a few pictures.)

Have you read the Build a Gas Forge attachment on the Forge Supplies page of my web-site>  You can get to the web-site and my e-mail address from my profiles page.

Let me know if I can help you.

Wayne

 

 

Ceramic fiber blanket: Your single largest expense will be the ceramic fiber insulating blanket, but only if you purchase it. Your local HVAC, furnace, or boiler shops all collect remnants of ceramic blanket that they cannot use (code prevent them from using “drops”; they have to employ fresh material from the roll), so they have to pay to have odds and ends of these refractory rolls hauled away. Let them know what you are up to, and be friendly, and garbage bags of the stuff could be yours for a box of donuts and a smile. The same rigidizer you use to stiffen ceramic blanket can be used to glue remnants together. If you have to buy it anyway, the added expense of getting 8 lb. density and minim of 2400 °F rating isn’t much:

+WayneCoe. Thanks for the website! The ceramic blanket seems relatively cheap from your site (by comparison to some other sites), if I went for a ceramic blanket would it insulate the pearlite insulator enough that it doesn't melt in the forge or would I have to remove the old lining and just double up on the wool?

+Jasent It appears everyone goes for ceramic fiber blankets now days, unfortunately I live outside a small town and the closest boiler shop (or equivalent) is in another state. Are there any easy alternatives or am I going to need to invest in the higher quality lining?

Dont use pearlite its cant hold up to the temps for any extensed period of time.  Ceramic blanket coated in kastolite coated in metrokote.

Went Overhill; is there a woodstove place locally?  Last demo I did I met a guy that worked with woodstoves and had kaowool by the pallet load...

+Binesman: I wont be able to forge for an extended period of time coming this January so the forge setup is temporary, do you think it'd last till then? (should I just run temps low or do I just need to abandon it?)

+Thomas: I managed to find a place that does a fireplaces but that's the closest thing I have, but would their supplies work? (With forging temperatures?)

Note: I cant seem to upload photos of my forge on this site (still cant figure out why) but if I stop up the mouth the forge seems to be able to quickly reach orange temps, though I have never left it on long enough to try for yellow heats (I've only really fired it to cure the satanite surfaces that remain and to dry my improvised patching slurry.) Would it be safe to run temporarily for small forging projects? (I don't have too long before I will be away from the forge for a while so I'd like to smith as much as I can before then).

Pearlite will work as a have to use it now and have no other option.  I watched youtube and followed the so called experts for my first forge and built a pearlite/sodium silicate one.  It would last for about 10 hours of working before id have to patch it up.  I only used as long as i had to while waiting on supplies to make a proper forge with supplies from wayne and advice from the good people here.