2 brick kiln

[BONY BOY]

Hello. Found a source for fire brick and picked up 2 today. Got them home and realized most ive read about seem to be the "soft" brick. The 2 I purchased seem to be fairly solid. Will these work? Just a pain to hollow out? Anyone have any experience with this type of brock? Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

They are hard, very difficult to hollow out, and aren't very good at insulating. In short, no, they probably won't work.

 

[BONY BOY]

May I ask what a good source for the softer ones?

 

[BONY BOY]

And refractory mortar?

 

[12345678910]

http://www.morganthermalceramics.com/products/insulating-fire-bricks-ifb/

You want the "K23" bricks

There are 2 sizes of rectangle and several shapes like arches and such



Use the link above and do an inquiry for a local distributor that stock them


or use the yellow pages and find a pottery supply dealer
http://www.sheffield-pottery.com/SOFT-BRICKS-Insulating-Firebrick-s/372.htm


They sell them as repair for pottery kilns.







They are soft and fragile, try to buy them in person.

 

[From Tennessee]

I hollowed mine out with a hand drill and a 1 1/2" spade drill. They drill like soft sand. I drill drilled 2 holes 8" deep over lapping and blended them with a long rat tail file. It took only a few minutes with NO problems. Be careful they are very brittle and crack and chip easily I wrapped mine in hardware cloth (wire mesh). theu did crack when I heated them but remained intact and hold heat very well. Side drill toward the lower edge of the chamber you create to create a circular flow of the heat and not directly on you steel. I still have not used the refractory cement but will. It helps increase the heat retention. I understand many times when ordering on line they arrive broken and poorly packaged. Beware

 

[sicily02]

Here is a place that I got a bunch from. there number is 1 800 443 2529 . the place is called Clay Planet.

Bryan.

 

[BONY BOY]

Thanks all! Great info. I guess I well return the other bricks. And try to find a few of the soft ones. Our keep the other 2 for a door on the forge. Again thank you all for the info.

 

[BONY BOY]

Tennessee... Were you talking about the real soft bricks or the harder ones?

 

[12345678910]

Tennessee... Were you talking about the real soft bricks or the harder ones?

He posted here - look at the photos
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/915686-Best-blow-torch?p=10383546#post10383546

They are the IFB soft ones I linked you to.
They should look like that, sponge like and very very light in weight.

The hardware cloth is a pretty good idea.
I'm going to try that with some refractory cement and hardware cloth.

 

[BONY BOY]

Cool thanks again. Ill have to try to find a place close to me with the soft ones. The place you suggested #s is in canon city colorado. That's about 2.5 hrs away from me. I appreciate all the help!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

These folks sell nearly every forge building supply.
It is the former Ellis Refractory.

http://www.hightemptools.com/supplies-mainpage.html

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

If you're still needing some bricks, I've got 800 of them. If you cover the cost of shipping, medium flate rate USPS, I'll send you a 2-3 with dinged up corners.

 

[Phydeaux]

+1 on ClayPlanet. I am fortunate that they are local for me here in the SF Bay Area. I got a couple discounted because they had a few minor chips in them.

Ric