small forging furnace

[refinery mike]

I had to get out my forge furnace to make a special valve wrench today, so i thought i would send some pictures in, while i was at it. If you have a small shop or a basement shop a regular blacksmith's forge is out of the question. You will either gas yourself of burn the house down. So maybe some one else can use this idea to make a small forging furnace, or maybe just for heat treating simple tools. Well in any case it is small easy to store and mounts in the bench vice in about twenty seconds. The refractory is mineral wool not fiber glass but i am sure other refractories would work. I got that as scrap from work. The second picture is a couple of gouges that I forged from 0-1 steel. I have forged things as large as hunting knives in this forge. hope you like it.

[Inspector]

Nice and simple. Perfect for small stuff. Is the pipe open at the other end?

Pete

[websterz]

Do you have any sort of coating on the refractory wool to prevent it from breaking down? Breathing in those little airborne fibers is a recipe for lung problems.

[refinery mike]

yes both ends are open, but relatively little flame comes out either side. leaving the other end open allows the flame to get out when my side is partially blocked by the metal.
i never thought about particles of mineral wool coming off in the flame. but to be honest if mineral wool is going to do me in, it is probably going to get me at work anyway. what kind of stuff do you put on the inside of the wool to keep it from blowing out. I will have to ask the insulators at work what i should do. any suggestions.

[websterz]

Google "satanite".