Forge Lining

[Emmi]

Hello everyone,

I've set out to get my single atmospheric propane burner forge to foster forge welding temperature. I started by blocking the ends with fire brick, no luck. I saw mixed but generally good reviews for Meeco's Red Devil Refractory cement, so I put a thin layer over my 1" kaowool. It has bubbled an cracked, and I'm still not at welding temp. I think I have a few options to try from here.

1) Apply another thin coat of Meeco's to seal the cracks

2) Apply Meeco's for the cracks and then on top of that, another refractory product like Kast-O-Lite

3) Apply Mecco's for the cracks, then another inch of kaowool, use rigididizer, and then kast-o-lite

Those are just 3 ideas I've come up with, any suggestions are welcome!

Here is a link to the forge: 

Edited January 6, 2021 by Mod30
Remove commercial link per TOS

[Welshj]

Get rid of the meecos altogether... it won't work in a forge environment. Clean as much off the ceramic wool as you can. If you have ceramic wool to replace it with- do that.

Generally, you want 2" of 8# wool for good insulation.

Coat that with rigidizer to stiffen the wool. Let that cure over nite. Google simwool rigidizer.

Spray your wool with a misting water bottle of plain water. Not soaking dripping wet- just a good misting to coat the wool- this is called "buttering" the forge,, and allows the refractory to bond to the wool better.

Then coat the rigidized wool with your choice of a good refractory. Satanite, kast o lite, mizzou... some choices. COVER ALL THE WOOL SURFACE.

The meecos is not a real refractory cement... its more like a mortar designed to be used to place firebrick in ovens and fireplaces. It doesn't get hard, it stays flexible and doesn't cure out hard like a castable refractory. Thats why its bubbling and peeling.

Quick down and dirty explanation... there's more, but thats basics. Read the forumn threads a bit- there's tons of info here to do it safely.

[pnut]

He pretty much covered it except if you're trying to get to forge welding temperature an IR re emission coating applied to the castable refractory like plistix or matrikote would help. I chose plistix after doing some reading to compare the two. For the life of me I couldn't tell you now why I went with plistix hahahaha.

Pnut

 

 

[Emmi]

Thanks to both! Ya hate to hear having to toss equipment but that’s learning the hard way. At least I can mend bricks with this stuff!

[Welshj]

It happens... and no matter what you wind up using, consider a forge lining almost a consumable.

You're going to crack it by bumping it with steel as you're putting it in... eventually, it's going to break from moving your forge sometime... lol.

Or, like me- you're going to have to modify your forge eventually, and redo the whole thing. Smh... I've re-lined my forge twice now in the last year. Once for said modification, and once for unintended steel bump on the top from being in a hurry to get my heat back up.

If you can afford to order a little more, or even double what you think you're going to need- do it. You'll have it on hand, you won't waste it... and you will eventually need it. Kept dry and sealed... theres no real shelf life.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

One thing you haven't mentioned is the cubic inch volume of your forge. A single burner will almost never reach welding temps in say a 700 cu in forge. Some pictures of the forge & burner will help with suggestions.

[Emmi]

Sorry about that! I included a link to the website of sale, but I’ll just post pictures in future forums so people who are helping don’t have to go out of their way. One burner is good for this forge, it’s ≈ 350 in^3. Once I add the second inch of kaowool and other refractories it’ll be further reduced

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

OK, well one burner should reach welding temp, if the ends are not wide open. I see your link was removed because the forum rules do not allow links to commercial sites. It's allowed to put the name of the site in so folks can go to the site if they want to. I think the other suggestions will solve the problem.

[RZK]

I have a question some-what similar to this. I also have 1" kaowool in my small propane forge and after reading recommendations, was going to add rigidizer, kast-o-lite, and plistex to it.

My question is: If I have already used the forge with just the kaowool, will that be a problem when adding the rigidizer, KOL, and plistex? Should I buy new kaowool to install or can I use what I have?

Thanks,

Ryan

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Depend on the condition of the existing Kaowool. A picture may help. If it's not in excellent like new condition, I would replace it.

[RZK]

Irondragon ForgeClay Works,

Thanks! I think it took some damage already so I will just replace it. Maybe add another layer so I have (2) 1" layers since that what everyone here is suggesting when building a forge. 

Thanks again,

Ryan