castable refractory | Page 2 | Problem Solving | Forum

A Skoda, Jack? Now how many people here got that one? Actually I was pretty envious of a sweet little Skoda diesel pickup I saw when I was working in Barbados a long while ago, If your forges look like that they're pretty nice. (which I suspect they are) I've used a side blast several times and it's fine but I'm used to my own forge as it is and i really don't find that much difference other than fire maintenance. I like a deep fire and the sides of my hearth are cut down for long bars so there's no bending needed in my "bum" blast forge.

I'm going to post a couple of shots of a REALLY UGLY gas forge at work. This was one I originally made for Shelly Thomas to use on medium diameter pipe. It's got a layer of 1" insboard rigid insulation covered with thin hard bricks as the forge bottom but 2" of kaowool as the isulation in the top which is nothing but a little more than half a propane tank. The top flips open to allow easy loading and for odd shapes to be accomodated. The burners fire up vertically which may seem strange to many but it gets things really hot. I've never welded in this thing (it's the first time it's been fired since June) but the bottom design is one that works fairly well. I closed off the end openings a bit with a couple of bits of scabbed on kaowool for this operation since they were originally sized for 4" pipe and I was working 3/8 by 3/4 here. Just goes to prove that a forge doesn't have to be pretty to work well- you can always tuck it away out of sight till you need it again. (grin) The looks reflect that this thing was originally built on a really tight schedule (really really tight)- but it works. Steve G

Thats good to know John, I tried my hand at an elliptical granite table recently and the thing kicked my ass, I couldn't believe how much time it took.... Glad to hear I just wasn't being a retard

So I have been running my ribbon burner a bit with the new castable liner... It looks like it is going to be hell for durable but it sure makes a world of difference in performance.. I have two inches of mizzu coated with ITC-100 and it now takes about 30 min to get up to temp (2300 deg) when I had the two layers of kaowool in there I could have it to 2500 deg in about 12 mins.. I ordered a box of 2600 deg kaowool and am going to put a loose blanket layer around to see if I can help it out a bit...

I imagine that would be plenty, Larry. Shoot me a PM and let me know what's going on.

Much appreciated.

Larry,

I guess kaowool does make sense as a one-use thing. If you've got enough of it, at least.

I saw some Skodas in Sweden last summer. The newer ones look like any other European car. Whether they've improved on the inside as well may be a different question.

Larry L;5756 wrote: I have an advantage in that I got three big trash bags full of free kaowool to use for such things..

how bout a late christmas present? send me 1 sq ft of kaowool?? so I can finish my forge.

What's silver sand?

actually have never heard of it being used before, sounds interesting but dont think it will flow like borax does into all the little spaces. How does it move at all if not in a molten state? Just asking questions, cause...sand becomes glass at heat how can that help with welding.