huntmaster99 Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 Good Afternoon! Its been a bit since ive worked on the crucible steel/wootz project but im now starting to work towards it. However ive run into a bit of a roadblock. Ive tried a couple times now to actually get a crucible of steel to actually melt in my built up coal forge to no success. Each time I opened up the crucible (breaking one...) I get molten glass but no molten steel. Im fairly certain the forge can/does get to that temperature. My question is more or less how much time does it need to actually melt? Thats obviously relative to the size of the crucible and how much youre attempting to melt. Out of all the sources nobody really talks about how long theyre letting the crucible sit in the fire and full heat (that ive seen so far) except for one where he supposedly runs his gas forge/furnace for 3 hours straight. Im working with a #2 clay graphite crucible with about 560 grams of mild steel (1018 etc). Is there a way to check how long it takes or if its molten inside? Maybe leave a tiny hole in the top of the crucible so I can stick a rod inside? Im running anthracite coal in a built up forge with bricks along with a blower pushing aprox 360 CFM. At full power the coals are too bright to look at unprotected so im pretty certain im reaching forge temps thats needed. Just wanted to get input from anyone whos worked with this stuff before or knows anyone who does. Ive attached the img of the forge running at full power and it seems that about 7 inches of the coals are full white hot, if anything I might want to turn the air down. I ran it like this for about 15 - 20 min but im guessing since I did not time it. The glass melted and flowed around the steel charge but this was just glass bottle glass so melting temp is lower that quartz glass. Yes im doing it in my forge, I could construct a standalone furnace for it but this should be able to do what I need it to. Also firebricks and refractory is just expennsive and hard to get for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 25, 2023 Share Posted June 25, 2023 The fire is too shallow and you're blasting too hard. Without a deep bed of coals under the crucible a blast that hard is reaching the crucible cooling it below the temp of the burning coal. If you want to melt steel you need to do it right, if that's too expensive you might consider something else. Take a look at old iron melters, they're tall, quite tall say 6x the ID at least and the blast isn't on the crucible it's below it. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntmaster99 Posted June 25, 2023 Author Share Posted June 25, 2023 Ok so good to know, I did notice that looking on the underside of the firepot the hot part was about at the top edge. Alright so then what is the "right way" I see plenty of people using propane burners for this but ive also seen someone do this with coal and diesel. I can easily choke the air to a much softer blast. Another option is a diesel fuel burner which wouldnt be too difficult. I say expensive for the refractory from a position of "If I dont have to have it then its not a requiremen to buy it; I could get the materials easily enough. Now as for design of something specific for this ive seen many propane tanks in the 20-30# range used. I could line the tank with refractory/fireclay and then build a grate in the bottom of rebar or steal to support the coals. From the channel FZ Making Knives, unless theyre not being genuine, he uses a grate to expand the area for the air blast to come up through the coals with the crucible being set up on a brick chunk above the grate and it seems to work just fine. Either way with anthricite or diesel burner would work but I already have the blower for the anthracite. I appreciate a good ole trial and error, but if im spending some money on it Id like to go in knowing it will work. Once again I could just choke the air blast from the forge, thats a really easy thing to do if you think it would work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 26, 2023 Share Posted June 26, 2023 The more I think about it the more I feel bad about making suggestions. You obviously haven't done ANY real research and this is just way too dangerous too do unprepared. My last words are do NOT TRY THIS! Maybe in a couple years after taking a class or course in making wootz you'll tell US how to do it. Till then I'm bowing out. I'm not dissing you, I'm just not qualified to coach someone as unprepared. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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