Finishing a Diamondback Series 3 Blacksmith

[Mkcn7168]

Hi,

Frequent lurker, first time poster. I tried several searches but didn't find what I'm looking for. 

I bought a Diamondback Series 3 Blacksmith forge and I want to rigidize this bad boy. 

This forge has an opening on either end and a top hinge door on a long side. This door has a liner of ceramic blanket. The other walls and the ceiling have what appear to be some type of ceramic board. It is not fire brick, which is on the bottom, but feels and looks like what I would imagine ceramic wool would look like if you compressed it. 

My questions:

1) on the wool: do I need to rigidize and then coat with a refractory cement (e.g., satanite), or just use a rigidizer?  If it's there, I missed it, but a stickied 'how to' would be awesome. 

2) on the ceramic boards, do these need to be coated with anything? 

3) I'm concerned the door will be a problem due to fragility. Would I be better off pulling the wool and using some of this ceramic board?

 

Thanks to all on advance. 

 

Mike

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Howdy from eastern Oklahoma and welcome to the forum! 

I forge with coal forges so I’m sorry I can’t help you with your gas forge questions but one of the gas gurus should be along shortly to help you! 

if you haven’t yet make sure you read the (read this first thread) it’s full of information on how to navigate IFI 
 

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I would rigidize it all and coat it with Plistix 900F. There are quite a few threads on the Diamondback. Here is but one.   https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/54504-diamondback-forge-review/

Found them this way (Diamondback blacksmith forge site:iforgeiron.com) Search parameters, as outlined in the Read This First thread.

 

[Mkcn7168]

Thanks gents. I'll take a look at the link you provided. 

[Mikey98118]

Not so fast. As I recall, colloidal silica rigidizer, which is what we discuss here, isn't supposed to be used on ceramic board; only on ceramic blanket. On the other hand, the Plistex 900 is a GOOD idea.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I must have missed the ceramic board part, Mikey is right about that.

[Mikey98118]

On the other hand, rigidizer doesn't improve the board at all, so nothing is lost by its absence

[Mkcn7168]

So do I need to use a product like satanite after the rigidizer (in the case of the blanket) and before the Plistix?  Or, can I just rigidize and Plistic everything?

Really paranoid about ceramic fibers. 

[JHCC]

A properly rigidized blanket shouldn't be shedding fibers, but it can degrade if it gets bumped by your workpiece. A hard refractory like satanite will increase the durability of the forge interior and protect the fiber from bumps, so that's certainly not a bad idea.

[Mikey98118]

You will also greatly increase re-emission of radiant energy, by using a finish coating; just about any finish coating, but I would recommend Plistex 900 for that.