@vtsteam
My typo mistake. I should have typed furnace.
I am not asking people to tell me what to do, merely seeking information about 1 specific part of the furnace, the ceramic wool coating, which does not seem to be available in the UK. I have read many threads about home made refractive mixes, but have not found anyone in the UK to supply a suitable coating as I stated in my post. I note you are in the US, consequently you have access to all of the coatings I asked about. Most home recipes that people seem to have tried appear to be only moderately successful, hence the posted question.
Cannot see why this should cause such hostility. If you never make errors I envy you .. .
Whilst I have refractive firebricks and an excellent propane torch. I would not call it a forge, though that may be my error. I use it for silver soldering. I would not attempt to melt cast Iron with it as the losses are likely too great. Melting aluminium is easily achieved even by accident, as I said.
Best Regards
picclock
Why would anyone be frustrated with what you're asking? First, I make plenty of errors -- and even wrote about some yesterday, in fact. I actually think you used the proper term, BTW. That was Andrew.
But what you've just said just clearly proved again that you are forming and expressing metal founding opinions with absolutely no experience to back them up. Very familiar ones, too. These have been passed on via the usual internet pseudo-experts who have actually never tried what they disparage and then by repetition by others becomes gospel.
I exclude Ironman totally from that category. He is brilliant. I'm referring to those who think (as he does not) that what he does is the ONLY way things can be done.
Yes, I live in the US with "access" to a few high tech materials if I order them by mail, and if a supplier can be found who wants to deal in miniscule quantities at very high prices, who is willing to send them. BUT, surprise, surprise, I don't use them. And I do a lot of casting and have done since 2002 when I built my first lathe, and a disk turbine -- with all cast aluminum parts. Hardly anybody was casting online back then BTW, Lionel Oliver was just starting out with Portland cement and flowerpots, and made a few Gingery parts with rough finish.
There are plenty of threads to read about casting here on Madmodder, which would answer many of your questions, and I hope, alter your opinions, if you'd care to look them up. With regard to firebrick being unsatisfactory as a refractory, ridiculous. It has been used traditionally. Please actually read some project threads here, instead of just repeating to the usual web-expert misinformation. I used firebrick in my iron casting foundry furnace, and that was well documented here. I'm not going to link it. Let's see if you can actually find it and read it.
Finally, you started this thread with a request about how you should start with
non-ferrous metals. I suggested simplicity -- melt some aluminum with the forge or (or brazing hearth, or whatever anyone wants to call it) you have and get some experience. It is confusing and frustrating to hear that advice completely ignored many posts later with "help me I'm a noob" and then right after read what you believe is a proper refractory which you can't obtain, and how others are lucky because they have access to what you do not.
Melt something. You can do that now, Take pictures. Write about it. Then you've got something real to talk about, instead of surmising what is optimal.
