gas forge floor !!!

C

Chapaveire

Joined
Apr 3, 2001
Messages
48
hello !!!
I have made my first gas forge,but what material you use for yours forge's floors????
I use it for simple forge but I want to make damascus and .......borax is greedy !!!
thanks !
Fabien:confused:
 
A dirt floor in a simple shed would do fine, most I've seen are in a shop with a plain concrete floor.
Firebricks right under the forge are a good idea too.
good luck.
 
Fabien,my neighbor uses cat litter in the bottom of his forge. He tried using a sheet of 304 stainless but the borax eats it up eventually and then he heard about the cat litter trick and tried it and said it's the best thing he's found. Cheap too.
 
thank mike. i built my forge out of an old heat treat oven that mike gave me. At first i didnt use anything and the borax guickly ate 2 inches of the firebrick. i tried several thing to try slowing it down i used small scrap pices of 3o4 sainless bent in to little pans but the borax ate through in short order. i use some fire place fire brick also but i liberally use flux and ive had my forge hot enough to melt cast iron to so these attempts only marginaly slowed the the loss of fire brick then i heard here on the forums about the kitty litter i have 2 to 3 inch of kitty liter on the bottom i put a piece of thick d2 in the forge to set my work on when im done making damascus i just rake the borax soaked kitty litter and steel in to a metal garbage can and reline with the litter before i forge again.
the generic brands work best 1.90 for 25lbs. since ive been useing the kl i havent lost any more of my forge floor in short it work real well and the kl acts as a refractory hope this helps Russ
 
no-one use graphite's floor ????
some europeans bladesmiths use it and said it's better than they could test before !!!!
Fabien
(excuse me for my english speaking !)
 
Fabien, You crazy frenchman, Tell me more about the graphite for a forge floor. What kind of graphite are you talking about? Is it something available here in USA?
 
hello !!!!
graphite used for make electrode on machine who work with electricity
for making complexes forms in steel (used for making tool of moulding)
An other method is to employed half of crucible !
for some of europeans bladesmiths crucible is the best material !
this crucible are graphit clay made(I don't know if it is the good translation !)
it's very difficult (and very long!!!)to speak english ,I write with one hand and I have dictionnary in other.....
good luck for read my reply !!!
Fabien
 
Fabien, Thankyou for your answer. Your english is very good. I still have never seen the crucibles you speak of but I will look on ebay as L6 says there are some graphite blocks.

Bruce B
 
I think that he is talking about silicon graphite like is used to make crucibles for melting steel etc. but I don't know were to get the stuff. Straight graphite will just burn up in the forge I think. there are some smiths that add graphite powder to ther damascus to raise carbon content.


Bill B????
 
www.riogrande.com sells graphite crucibles in their tools catalog. They also have ceramic soldering blocks that would probably work good too. I've been thinking about trying one of these two methods for a while but never wanted to spend the money. Cat litter works great and is dirt cheap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top