building a forge and need ceramic wool

[singleshooter]

Hello all. Ive built coal forges before now im tinkering with propane. I need to get my hands on some ceramic wool but i dont want to order from the internet. imn here in salem and can use all the information available.

Might make you a knife for helping once the gas forge is built.

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[Rick4070]

You might try:

HIGHTEMP INC.

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Skyline Components, LLC. (This one is in Arizona, but has a phone contact number.)

Hope this helps!

 

[KalamaMark]

You might try Johnstone Supply down by the Airport. They are a wholesale house, but they may sell to an individual. L86-172 | Lynn | 9451 | Johnstone Supply

 

[jbett98]

Are you talking about Rockwool Insulation? I have a bunch of batts of that stuff, how much would you need?

 

[Stomper]

Man, I just helped rebuild the Cleaver-Brooks 300 & 500hp boilers at SolarWorld a couple weeks ago... We had tons of abatement batting.

The stuff KalamaMark listed above will do the trick.

 

[Rick4070]

Are you talking about Rockwool Insulation? I have a bunch of batts of that stuff, how much would you need?

I'm not sure that Rockwool would stand up to the temperatures needed in a forge.
On the propane forge I built, I used an outer shell made up from a small hot water tank, lined it with a castable refractory cement by using a large diameter cardboard tube, so I had about a 3" thick layer of cement, with about a 10" diameter chamber,then used the Kaowool insulation blanket too, with firebrick on the bottom of the forge.
This way, the bricks and blanket are removable and replaceable when the Borax flux used in forge welding eats up the bricks and blanket.

 

[singleshooter]

thanks guys. appreciate the information. ill try out johnstone. jbett4070 if you have extra ill give it a try.

@rick4070: how did you get your burner to work correctly. im trying to build one from scratch. im using a 3/4 inch threaded tube with a 1" flare at one end and a T connect at the fuel end. My burner back fires.

do you have a psi gauge on your set up?

 

[Rick4070]

@rick4070: how did you get your burner to work correctly. im trying to build one from scratch. im using a 3/4 inch threaded tube with a 1" flare at one end and a T connect at the fuel end. My burner back fires.do you have a psi gauge on your set up?

I used a 1-1/2" diameter pipe, about 18" long, welded into the side of the forge, about halfway down the side, (forge was about 18" long,) slightly above center of the forge, to get a swirling effect.
About half way up on the 1-1/2" diameter tube, I drilled a hole into it, to fit 1/4" copper tube, I then bent a piece of copper tube at a 90 deg. angle, and inserted about 3/4" into the tube. I used a ball valve on the other end of the copper tube, and then used a hose from the valve to the propane tank, and used a small size acetyline regulator on the 20 pound propane tank, (same left hand threads.) I tried a large Victor regulator, but couldn't get it to work, so used a small Smith regulator.

You really only need about 2 psi or so, and an adjustable regulator off of one of those turkey fryers should work, but it can't be one of the non-adjustable ones.

The air source was an old tank type vacuum cleaner, with the hose on the blow end, attached to the 1-1/2" tube, and I used a wall dimmer switch on the power cord to regulate the air flow.
The dimmer switch probably wasn't the best choice, but it never failed or burned out.

With this above "lash up," I could easily heat steel to welding heat, and was adjustabe for gas/air mix, and was easy to dial down or up as needed.

There ARE plans out there for a non-forced air burner at : www.backyardmetalcasting.com/oliverburner1.html

I built the same "Oliver"burner, but have yet to use it in a forge.

It works well, but you do need the "nozzle" on the end, or it doesn't work well in the open.

Do you have your burner installed in a forge? If it isn't, that might make a difference as to why your burner backfires??

I just got rid of the forge I made during a very recent move, or else I'd take a picture and post it.

It was pretty rough looking, but it worked really well.