[TheForge] Forge Lining

[Jerry Frost]

Good score Luke. It's good to have friends isn't it?

As has been said you need to know the specs of the 
materials you have.

You also need to know what you want from your forge so 
you can design the shape and size. Take a look at Ralph 
Sproul's forge design for the ultimate utility forge.

The rule of thumb, unless Mikey's changed it without 
telling me, for burners and forge volume is: 1 ea. 3/4" 
burner for every 350-400 cu/in.

You can heat more volume by insulating the forge but 
there are practical limits, I'd rather (and DO) use 
more burner than I need.

The little forge I use for small stuff has a 3/4" hard 
inner liner surrounded by 1" of 8oz. Kaowool. This 
isn't optimum but it works well enough.

Use at least 2" of kaowool, Dura Blanket, etc. and 
about 1/2" of hard refractory should be plenty, even 
for the floor if it's a high strength refractory. If it 
isn't high strength make it a little thicker.

I found the Kaowool supported the floor unassisted but 
it is a pipe forge and gets a lot of it's strength from 
being round.

The upside of double linings are: Strength, durability, 
high specific heat, and lack of potentially dangerous 
fibers in the air.

The downside of double linings are: Longer heat up 
(high specific heat) and much longer construction time.

I listed high specific heat on both the pro and con 
sides of the argument because it is a two edged sword. 
Specific Heat (SH) or thermal mass is good and bad. The 
lower the SH the faster the forge will heat up and the 
faster the energy from the flame can be transfered to 
the work. The higher the SH the more energy can be 
stored in the liner, available for transfer to the work 
so the work will heat faster. This last is dependant of 
a couple factors that if you're a hobbyist you're 
unlikely to run into.

For the high specific/thermal mass to make a difference 
in heating your work you have to be moving a quantity 
or mass of stock through your forge. For the average 
shop it doesn't make much difference even when 
noticable.

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "Luke Thomson" <lukeirathomson at gmail.com>


> My friend's uncle is a refractory man, i don't know 
> exactly what his
> position is but he's some sort of contractor for 
> refractory and fire
> insulating work. That's insignificant though, the 
> cool part is I get free
> refractories!!!
>
> Here's What I Got:
> 1. 1" thick Kao-wool, durablanket or some brand of 
> refractory blanket
> 2. ***Naphos-85   i have a couple gallons and with it 
> Matt (refractory
> hook-up) said "holds brick together up to .25" 
> thick" and "add water to get
> consistency of morter/slurry"
> 3. ***Ply Brico "trawelable* plastic .5" to 3" thick" 
> and "fills cracks &
> voids etc. where there isn't a brick" *Real Sticky*
> 4. bag of AP Green Castable refractory
>                         ***He also said that both the 
> 'ply brico' and
> 'naphos' are 85% alumina where the standard is 50%
>
> Here is what I want:
> A forge... I cut the ends of a propane tank and 
> burned the paint off for a
> forge shell. I'm not neccessarily set on this but it 
> seems like the right
> size for my second forge, ( just today another 
> friends dad gave me their old
> forge to use while I build my own). The hope is that 
> with those refractories
> and one of mike porter's burners I'll have a forge 
> pretty soon. I've already
> forked out the big bucks and bought most of the parts 
> for the .5 & .75"
> burner's in his book.
>
> now for the actual questions:
> 1. I've read about Jerry using a couple layers of 
> Kaowool protected by
> refractory cement and rather liked the idea, but 
> would like to hear
> other suggestions considering the materials I have.
>
> 2. If I decide to go with the two layers of kao-wool 
> how thick should I lay
> on the refrectory cement and which one should I use? 
> should i do like .75"
> on the top and sides and 1.5 or so inches on the 
> bottom?
>
> 3. Is there a website or anywhere in particular where 
> I should buy a
> regulator, or will most places pretty much be the 
> same: central welding
> supply, hardware store, etc.
>
> Any other suggestions?
>
> Thanks always for your advice,
> Luke
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