Forge repair

AkWildman

Well-Known Member
So the last time I made some Damascus in my gas forge I totally forgot to put my ceramic shield in under my billet and got a few ugly spots in my fire brick.Not bad my flux only ate a couple spots about 1/4 deep say the size of your finger.My thoughts are just to use some rutlands and fill in the spot.Any thoughts ?
 
NO

I tried that a few years ago and wound up with some molten glass/plastic looking crap where my patches once were. The Rutland didn't handle the welding heat. I had to scrape that out bigger than the original holes and went back to the old standby Satanite for patching.


Rudy
 
I've had that issue for years with my welding forge, and finally just came to the conclusion that "flux happens". About once every 3-4 months I have to chisel that "glass mass" out of the bottom of the forge. Something I did to make it a bit easier to live with was to build the bottom of the welding forge out of fire bricks, with castable refractory filling the airspace, and approx 1" over the top of the bricks....

and here's my "trick"...... before I ever fire the forge, I put about an inch of simple "kitty litter" in the bottom (I use the elcheapo Tidy Cat brand). It kinda "melts" but doesn't stick to the bottom of the forge. When I have to chisel out that "glass mass", its like it has a coat of PAM (the cooking spray) under it, and pops out fairly easily, without taking any of the bottom of the forge with it. Just make sure you don't get the scented kitty litter! It stinks to high heaven, and even burns your eyes when its "melting". :)
 
I cast the interior of my forge with Kast-0-Lite. It is resistant to flux. For the past couple of years I have been using a Ribbon Burner and a Pyrometer. I get the stack up to 2315 degrees and weld without flux. That sure cured the flux problem and I get better welds with out inclusions.

Let me know if I can help you.
 
If you use kitty litter...
1) use clean, new litter...not used one as it smells
2) before lighting the forge pull out all the cats!! ;)

On a serious note the kitty floor on a vertical forge is a valid solution for forge welding with flux
 
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