Ok, I want to build a small forge and money is tight. Locally I can find 1" fire brick (hard kind) pretty cheap. If I get refractory mortar and put 2 - 1" bricks together, I could still get out cheaper than ordering 2.5" bricks. My question is, would that work as well, or would there be some reason that it wouldn't work?
Thanks
Troy,
The way you are will work, but I believe it will not be very efficient or durable compared to something else just as easy.
If I was making a starter forge, I would find a piece of pipe, square or round, and line it with Insowool or Kaowool and stack soft firebrick in the back and where needed in the front allowing space for a door. If aquiring a pipe is out of the question, I would still use the soft brick and stick it with furnace cement or just stack them dry. The hard brick work, seem to crack a lot to me.
I saw where someone made a coffee can forge. You might do a search and find it. Lin
Troy although I could use a larger one now, this "forge" i made from a 48oz coffee can, 1 kiln brick and mud from my backyard, also 1 propane with wide nozzle, and a bag of vermiculite
for normalizing.
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/Screamin_Eagle/brick.jpg)
The kiln brick is very soft and brittle in fact I bought 2 or 3 just in case, I drilled a hole down the middle then used a hand held sheetrock saw to open it up
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/Screamin_Eagle/brickhot.jpg)
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/Screamin_Eagle/knife.jpg)
I finished this knife the other day...BTW I found the kiln brick at a ceramic supply house and vermiculite at a garden center.
Good luck, Gene