Coal forge

[Justin Topp]

Yes it was 

[swedefiddle]

Good Mourning,

Bolt some supporting pieces underneath, keep it from breaking in two. Most heat goes up, but some goes down. Keep a layer of Clay or whatever to shield a lot of the heat from expanding the pan. If you try to braze it back together, you may make the problem worse.

Neil

[Justin Topp]

That’s what Is starting to seem like the best choice. I can always in bolt it if I need to. It’s a lot harder to un braze it 

 

[Justin Topp]

I bolted a plate on. Drilled the hole on one side of the crack 1/8 larger so it has a small amount of room to move. So that hopefully it doesn’t break somewhere else. But this keeps the gap mostly closed. Only opens a small amount when heated 

[anvil]

That's pretty strange that it cracked.

Just checking.

Did you use actual fire clay, or something else.

How thick was the fire clay.

 

[Justin Topp]

I used clay. Not sure the type. It was Over an inch thick 

[anvil]

I suspect you did not use fire clay. And it should have been thick enough to be at the bottom of low point of the forge sides. This is to keep long pieces from slumping and to give proper thickness for heat protection. I don't know but perhaps an inch of just plane clay may be harder on a cast forge than no clay at all.

[Justin Topp]

It reached 90% of the way up. I’ve always been told any old clay works