New to this and stumped

[WillForge]

I have a fire brick forge with a frosty tee style burner of 3/4" this is the second time I have build it since all my fire bricks have cracked. I finally ordered some Rutland refractory cement abut 15lbs of it hoping that will help my heating issues before this I could get 1" square mild steel up to a yellow heat now I can only get to a orange heat just barely at 6-12 psi on 1/4" rebar. I'm getting a vector edge 2.0 high flow reg. hoping that will also help. I'm not in an enclosed shop but in a 3 walled 10x9 shed that I build on my parents land (I think its called a run-in shed) so I'm exposed to the elements and I know that will have some effects on it. 

 

 

"Just do it but, be ready to run like xxxx."

 i

this was the 1st thing I made before all the bricks cracked

[Frosty]

I sure wish folks would read "forges 101" before spending money on stuff that doesn't work. 

First, refractory CEMENT is for gluing brick together it is a LOUSY flame face refractory. 

Unless you buy Morgan Thermal Ceramics K-26 insulating fire bricks they WILL crumble the first couple times you fire the forge up. And NO, coating them with refractory won't do much to make them last longer, even if it's a good refractory the bricks will get too hot too fast to survive.

There are proven forge plans posted here, if you pick ONE and follow it you'll be much more successful. I'm sorry your forge died so quickly but the information to do it right is available had you looked or asked. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning Will,

This is part of the learning process. You learn what works and you learn what doesn't work. The high temperature bricks are great at insulating, but very poor for long service life by themselves as the Fire-Box. No harm done, Nobody got hurt, lost blood or the lack of breathing. A lesson like this, you don't have to put in your notebook, you will remember for a long time. There is always positive thinking and negative thinking. This is a positive, positively a lesson!! Don't be cross or dejected, just take another stab at it. Follow some of Frosty's suggestions. Don't be afraid to try something on your own, don't cry when something doesn't work out as you wished, LEARN to think and make adjustments along the way.

Neil

[wirerabbit]

If you're good a fabricating, you might want to try to modify the design to allow for the inevitable hotface expansion of those bricks. Might reduce cracking. With so few brick, easing up on the nuts might be enough. I'm not sure how the integrated burner holder will be affected, however.

Keep on keepin' on.

T

[ThomasPowers]

Also remember that the colour you see is greatly affected by the ambient light so what looks HOT at night may look cold at noon in direct sunlight.  How the metal works is a better indictor---much better than licking it to test! (I once offered to let a friend lick the end of the workpiece to judge how hot it was by the taste.  He told me he didn't need to as he already knew what it would taste like.  Being intrigued; I asked what it would taste like?  He answered that "It would taste like pain and regret.")