I came across this video showing a furnace that was made from fire bricks stacked up from the floor. If you were only going to use this furnace once or twice a year it would make sense not to go to all the trouble to build a proper furnace. I also like his idea of using the lift out tongs to pour as well as lift the crucible out.
That was a pretty cool gold melt. It would've been a lot cooler if there wasn't all the pitting. I'm a little interested in what he got for value.
Say that one 3 times fast. Smelt my swarf, smelt my swarf, smelt my swarf... Ya can't do it without smiling.
I get the point of the OP. The principles are really pretty basic. The wisdom involved in the subject of the video might be a different matter.... Pete
He's not smelting, just melting gold flake. Have you noticed on Gold Rush they are using Devil Forge furnaces to make ingots out of their booty.
I looked up as to what smelt means, To heat up a metal ore to change it to a metal. So what the video showed was dirty gold being melted with flux to clean the metal.
Smelting = reducing a metal from its ore. Melting = transition a solid metal (or any meltable substance) to a liquid
His furnace design is much the same as mine, except mine has an angle-iron frame securing the walls and the lid. The burner on mine is bolted underneath and originally heated a cast-iron plumbers pot and nowadays a crucible. This a good cheap way to make a furnace for beginners, especially if melting aluminium. Disadvantage is no swirl around a circular pot, or crucible, when the walls are square, Cheers Charlie
It always amazes me that the persons who melt gold make a low effort furnace and most people here melt low value metals make very elaborate furnaces. Have a look at the video at the 1:49 mark.