The Shop > Wood & Stuff
Banjo Build
S. Heslop:
Take two.
Reshaped forge worked quite well. Perhaps could've been a bit longer where I stick the metal in, to cover more of the file. And ideally i'd have blocked more of the end where the burner goes since it was fairly open and had a bit of a flame coming out of it as well.
The vermiculite i'm not so excited about though. Gotta let it cool, but there's a fair amount of steam coming off of it, which i'd sort of expected after reading the packet and it saying something along the lines of 'ideal for absorbing water'. The bin also sprung a leak out the side where the heat from the file made it about.. 5cm? It's a short distance but it happened fairly fast.
So i'd be surprised if it works. Plan C will be to build a sort of tall furnace from either sheet metal or something like a bit of pipe (ducting perhaps?). Then make a plaster of paris/ vermiculite lining, fill it with charcoal, send air in via a vacuum cleaner, and let the files heat up and cool down inside of that.
I'm also considering giving this up and just buying some rasps. I sort of want to save the sheet metal for another stupid idea I had.
vtsteam:
Simon, for holding ashes, think metal bucket, as in galvanized pail, or garbage pail or large gallon (or metric equivalent) size commercial tomato tin. Or gallon paint can (though these are increasingly being made in plastic here). 5 gallon roofing compound tin. Propane tank. Anything discarded that's metal and round. Fire extinguisher......yes?
Vermiculite will work, not as well as wood ashes, but must be completely dry -- otherwise you're making steam, which process rapidly absorbs heat.
There is nothing wrong with your bricks for a furnace -- or forge, you don't need metal lined with plaster of Paris (unless you want to do that as a project). You could also mortar your bricks together with plaster of Paris and sand, using relatively little plaster and make a more permanent forge or furnace.
S. Heslop:
I was thinking about welding a couple of galvanized buckets together. Mostly I need the height.
Drying and keeping the wood ash/ vermiculite dry is a problem though. And with my current space constraints i'm half expecting to throw the stuff out once i'm done with it.
The idea with the charcoal forge/ furnace is just to let the files cool down slowly as the fire itself dies out. Whatever I build might not even need to be lined with refractory, i'm just trying to think of uses for the vermiculite. If I build something nice I could disguise it as a garden ornament. Some sort of tall square tapered thing with some planters on top.
vtsteam:
Well, do you have over there a 10 gallon (metric equiv) galvanized steel dustbin with lid? That is tall, can be kept outdoors and will keep anything inside dry.
awemawson:
6" clay or iron drainage pipe would work, but why can you not just let them cool in your forge - I doubt it'll cool fast enough not to leave them soft ?
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