Forge insulation question
Hi fellas,
I have been reading a lot online (and searched here) and haven't seen anything exactly answering this question: Is a perlite and sodium silicate (water glass) insulation, followed by 1" ceramic wool, lined with high temp mortar a good solution for a 20 lb propane bottle forge?
I keep reading snipits of references to avoiding perlite, but if it's got ceramic wool protecting it, that should be sufficient, no? I only have a small amount of ceramic wool (not even sure which brand), but I bought a gallon of water glass and two bags of perlite, and just looking for my vessel now.
I'm also building a burner roughly from Zoeller Forge plans. BTW, somebody warn me if it's a bad idea to solder a copper MIG tip to black pipe or brass pipe. I'm struggling to find all the right sizes and wall thicknesses for the pipe (but am smart enough to avoid galvanized).
Cheers,
Atchbo
Forge insulation question
Actually, this could be helpful. I have a charcoal brake drum forge in a Mexican chiminea but it takes a while to heat up all that steel. I put some sand and rocks in the pot and lava rock around it to protect the chiminea but I might consider lining that drum while I am working on this gas forge. Maybe a bit of perlite with a cover of this tite bond high temp mortar I bought.
I also bought some fire clay for coating the blades... I could probably mix a handful of that in with the perlite and sodium silicate.
I don't have enough ash to use for this (haven't had enough hours on the forge!).