Clay chimney liner for fire pot

[KELTOI]

I have a foot long piece of clay chimney liner, and I was wondering of it would be of any use as a "fire pot" for a gas forge... First problem there would be drilling a hole in it for the burner pipe to go in through. Wondering if this would work by itself, or it it would withstand the heat?

Or is it possible to be used as a furnace for casing?

[orgtwister]

well theres a sit on the web called backyard metal casting and he made a crucible furnace with a flue pipe and used it for more that a year so i beleave its posiable now i have had people tell me it wouldn't work but he has pics of it on the site and it was used. the only real differance from a crucible furnace is it would be vertical verse forge would lay horizonal to make the hole use a masonary hole saw should cut throgh it

[Frosty]

I don't think it'll hold up but maybe. I wouldn't spend the time trying but I can afford a little $ for real refractories.

Frosty

[KELTOI]

yeah, money is a bit of an issue...would use of firebrick as insulation instead or refactoie clay or such (wool whatever) would that help?

[ChrisB]

If the backyardcasting guy made it work for melting metal it should be fine for forging. Like others said there are better choices however we all understand living withing a budget or using what you already have on hand. You can put it together and work for a while until you decide this is something you want to do as a hobby or maybe move on because its not you. If you end pursuing the craft you got a low cost start and will be able to direct forge funds into other tooling until the time comes when the clay liner dies.

[KELTOI]

I do already have a forge going but it is a charcoal forge, and even though it works well, I was just wondering if it was good enough for a propane forge.maybe update. thanks all for your input!