But, more importantly, I finished my mini-foundry and it works like a charm. I just filled-in an old aluminum cooking pot with plaster mixed with sand and water, put a plastic container inside and moved it around a bit every once in a while, took it out, the plaster dried, and presto, fire-proof cooking pot reused to be a miniature foundry.
I drilled a 2.5" hole in its lower side with a hole saw, resulting in my powerdrill nearly breaking when blue zaps appeared for some reason, put a 2.5" iron pipe in the hole, stuck a hairdryer with the cold button tied down, set-up a pile of briquettes, got a fire going, turned the hairdryer on, and presto, a forge and mini-foundry that can go up to 500 degrees Celsius (about 900 degrees Fahrenheit) or so.
I took a train nail/spike/thing I found in the ground in the bush, and dropping it into the forge, and using an old drum brake as a lid with a few inches of pipe as a chimney, I could heat the train spike orange-hot within fifteen minutes. It's about 40% faster than using the drum brake itself as a forge.
I'll be busy tomorrow! It's been over a year since I last practised uneducated blacksmithing, but it's how I have fun.
Only down side is that the plaster is a bit uneven, so there's a few openings beneath the lid at the plaster, so I may have to reapply some plaster later to even-out the top rim.
10-Nov-2015 02:15:23
