Yep I crossed the line this time. I made a FORGE. I plan to use it for doing a bit of ironwork on some gates/fences for my garden. I think I'll cast some bronze ornaments and then forge a few Vines and leaves as part of the fence. Got to add the ceramic fiber interior and give it a coat of satanite. Maybe some cashable refractory for a floor. Haven't decided yet. I hear fire bricks suck up a lot of heat from the interior so I'll see what I can rustle up. Then of course paint... Anyway on to the pictures!
If you want a pretty tough Satanite shell, you might consider painting on 3 successive coats of it thinned to the consistency of buttermilk. Fire it to a good red color after each coat. No need to allow drying before firing as Satanite has no cementatious component. It fuses with high heat---like a red color. I simply paint it on the surface and get at it with my weed burner. What I am saying here I gleaned from Fishbonzwv and then experience with my furnace chimney. 1 coat is pretty good. 3 coats lasts a long long time. Denis
I don't quite understand the valve set-up here, I understand the shut-off valve next to the pressure gauge and the needle valves but what are the other two shut-off valves for? Is this the sort of thing you intended, where the needles valve are to control a low idle flame and the ball valves in parallel with them are for full burner output.
The copper tube lets a small idler flame always go through and then the valve directly to the right of the copper allows full burn on and off. The other shut off valve above the copper is the adjustment for the idler. Probably could have had that be a needle valve too but I don't think I need to adjust it as finely as the burner flame. I'll see about adding 3 coats like you suggest. The bottom floor is what I'm wondering about. I may cut an insulating fire brick in half and then coat with satanite for a more durable surface.
Zap, When I build my Forge I used ceramic wool to insulate it and the inside faces are just cheap firebrick covered in satanite. Heats up very quickly and runs for hours without burning the paint off. forge by crazybillybob posted Feb 9, 2023 at 8:48 AM It's only a single burner Forge but suited to what I needed.
Nice work. I keep thinking the burners should be angled so it can swirl flame inside but then I don't think that makes sense for forging. I'm too stuck in metal furnace mode lol Do you think mine would burn a wood table if I had it fired up on my work bench?
I'm not sure. Maybe put a brick down or a sheet of steel to protect it the first time. Then see how warm it gets under it.
I helped my friend build a forge, we used castable refractory for the floor and it has held up significantly better than the firebricks he was using. It is nowhere near as susceptible to flux/scale
