There is a JABOD in my backyard. Guess it's time to get to work

[ThomasPowers]

Solid fuel has "BTUs to burn" and so an insulated firepot is not needed.

[Paul TIKI]

Buzzkill, I'm using the soft firebrick because that's what I have to hand.  My son brought some home for the purpose so I'm using it.  I know it will fail eventually, but it'll do for now.  I figure everything inside the shell is consumable and am prepared to replace whatever as needed.  Heck, even the shell is consumable.

[pnut]

On 11/23/2020 at 1:38 PM, Paul TIKI said:

I have some ideas on more future improvements but I'll wait until I get good with what I have

Try to remember to only make one change at a time so you'll know exactly what difference it has made. It's not as easy if you change multiple things at once to pinpoint what's responsible for what.

I'd also be willing to bet that if there's any smiths close to you they might be willing to trade some hard firebrick for some of the soft ones you have. Either way you'll eventually have to replace them whether you use soft or hard firebrick. I don't have any experience with soft firebrick but the hard ones wear out pretty quick. 

Pnut

 

[wirerabbit]

16 hours ago, Buzzkill said:

Just curious why you would use relatively expensive IFB for this type of forge.  Were you trying to protect the tuyere from heat?   Standard fire brick is much cheaper and in general is probably better suited to this application.

You can check out my JABOD thread if your interested, but I'm a potter and had the 2800s on hand. Also, they were much easier to shape than hardbrick for a quick forge build. My tuyere sticks into the firebox approx. 3/4 to 1 inch, so no protecting the steel pipe tuyere there. My next forge build will have a cast tuyere end ala Japanese bladesmith forges. I also chose the IFBs for this build because they have such lower thermal mass than hard firebrick, the forge cools much more quickly after a session. I like that.

[Paul TIKI]

Change one thing at a time is sound advice for problem solving in any arena. I often have to do that at my day job dealing with finicky databases.

The soft firebrick is readily available On amazon.  A little pricey though.  Hard firebrick is available at the big box store I prefer (Menards) 

[wirerabbit]

I'd try to find either a clay supplier or industrial supplier that can sell you refractories. I have never found a good deal online compared to my local (1.2 hours away) clay store. At $5.40 a brick at my supplier the K28s are indeed not cheap, but I just saw K23s for $12 each online. OUCH.

The spirit of the JABOD is great, though: cheap as dirt. Has let many of us start on our journey with little money down!

 

[Paul TIKI]

So far the total spend on my wood box JABOD has been $0.00.    My son has spent some of his cash on things like the IFB and his hand crank blower.  All the IFB in the wood box JABOD has been replaced after that first fire with clay brick from a pile in the basement.  We moved the IFB over to the grill forge when we built that up. I don't know how much my son spent on his hand crank blower or the IFB, but everything else in the grill forge is likewise from scraps.

It's a source of fascination for me that all of this can be done so cheaply.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Blacksmith's have been known for our frugality.

[ThomasPowers]

Shoot I even know the Mexican gesture for it!  I had another local smith stop by the smithy today and he was flabbergasted at all the stuff I have and all of it bought on my allowance US$10 a week back at the old days and now US$25 a week.