Friday, December 31, 2010

Two new forges

After the demise of my last forge, I decided to redo them both. Luckily I found some Kaowool Cerachem 1430 C rated ceramic blanket and Kaowool Hardener (which is a liquid that hardens the surface of the Kaowool, so it does not decompose and leave fibers in the air) and some proper firebricks.

The first forge is a vertical Don Fogg type which I insulated with 5cm of ceramic blanket, and will be using for knife and sword forging, and maybe steel making (I might have to build a sturdier one though, if I want to do really long burns in it). By the way the metal container is an old oil drum I found at a scrap yard.


The second is a remake on my earlier, recycled water-heater, horizontal forge, which I lined with about 10cm of ceramic blanket  and which I'll be using more for welding mokume billets and welding in general. Even though the burner is not aimed ideally (I understand that it should run tangential to the inner surfaces, so that the flame forms a vortex) the domed top does make the flame turn, leaving fewer cold spots.
In the back you can see the torque plates for the mokume gane, and a small crucible for casting shibuichi; more on that later...

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