Blacksmith's furnaces with their own hands: different types of homemade furnaces, device and firebox
The blacksmith's furnace is a very useful equipment, which can help the master in the manufacture of various metal products. Having a blacksmith's furnace can solve many problems, related to the adjustment of old or the manufacture of new products.
Of course, it is always possible to buy factory equipment of this type, if necessary. You can also use the help of blacksmith shops, which can be found in almost every village. But it is possible to create a blacksmith's horn yourself. Having certain skills in handling tools, which will help in this matter, there will be nothing difficult in this. Efforts are needed, find all components, necessary tools, spend time, but will use its own blacksmith's horn, which can be put in your workshop.
This device is used by masters for such operations: heating the metal before forging, cementation, as well as other operations. In artisanal conditions the master, which uses a blacksmith's horn, able to get the temperature up to 1100 degrees, in some cases even before 1200. Horns are usually issued by large stationary equipment, but there are also small portable specimens. In principle, it is not so difficult to create your own blacksmith's horn. Tips for creating such a furnace will be given in the article below.
To use a blacksmith's furnace of traditional design, you need to have certain skills and experience, and be sure to have the necessary knowledge, which is more appropriate to choose fuel. If you use such fuel for heating, as natural gas, it is unlikely to forge something significant, but will help greatly to simplify the design. The point is, that the gas horn can be collected in half an hour or an hour, using only six fireclay bricks and a few scraps of steel. The quality and temperature of heating will allow you to work with non-ferrous metals and small products.
The device is a horn
To go to the tips for creating a homemade furnace, you should first get acquainted with the traditional device of such a device:?
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Horn table, made of refractory material;
- Fireplace, or firebox, with grate;
- Air Chamber;
- Air drainage;
- Supply air duct;
- Air valve;
- Tent (camera) upper;
- Window, is intended for giving of long preparations;
- Umbrella upper;
- Exhaust or chimney;
- The crucible is removable;
- Tempering bath (pelvis or tub);
- The chamber is gas-air.
The principle of operation of the furnace
That the user could make a horn independently, he needs to begin to understand the principle of its operation, to work with it later, that is, without loss of quality. There is a chemical reaction of burning carbon: 2С + О2 = 2СО2 + 188.1 kcal. It is the basis of any device. The reaction is immediately visible, that carbon is a fairly strong reducing agent, that is, it greedily combines with oxygen.
This reducing ability of carbon is partially used in the blacksmith's furnace to prevent oxidation of the workpiece, that is, for that, so that the metal in the device does not burn. Also very important is another property of carbon - its high calorific value. This property is, that if you blow into the fuel mass of air, which would be enough carbon, then you can burn it quickly enough, which will result in more heat. This will allow you to develop a higher temperature.
To prevent oxidation of the metal, the blast in the furnace should be adjusted as follows, so that the fuel is a little lacking in oxygen. But remember, that if the workpiece is overcooked, then carburization will occur. This means, that the metal will become overdried, that is, fragile.
How to heat the furnace
A few words about different types of fuel, which can be used to work with a blacksmith's furnace. These are tips, which will help to better understand the furnaces:
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It is considered, what is the best fuel, which can be used for equipment, it's coke. And small, popularly called coke. It is several times more expensive than coal, but its cost is much less, so with skillful handling you can even save. Coke ignites at temperature 450-600 degrees, so the ignition will need double: to begin with firewood ignites coal, then you need to put a layer of coke on it and turn on the blast to the maximum.
- To work with damask you need to use charcoal, as it ignites at a lower temperature and burns faster. This allows you to drive more subtly, we can say, jewelry work with steel.
- When using coal, it should be allowed to burn to carbon. This means, that volatile components, namely coke oven gas, should burn out.
- Firewood is burned in the same way as in the case of coal, but only deciduous. It is important to know, that you need to avoid chips, which did not burn out, for detail. This is due to the fact, that the wood contains too many harmful impurities for steel.
Blacksmith's furnaces with their own hands
You can proceed to the procedure of making your own device of this type. Below are some of the most popular options for making a furnace with your own hands. They differ in structure, but the principle of work in all of them is similar.
Mini horn
Such a small blacksmith's furnace of six bricks is the best option for beginner blacksmiths.
Shelves of grate can be made from ordinary scraps of steel pipes, while the grate itself can be made of thick steel strip 4-6 mm. The figure shows, that the grate must be screwed into the corner with a screw, to capture the flow of the blast. The following fuels are suitable for this option: coal or coke. Blowing and ignition are made by a blowtorch, gas or gasoline burner.
Keep that in mind, that when using a blowtorch you need to put a partition, with a window under the nozzle, of asbestos between the lamp and the appliance. It must be done, because the furnace radiates heat intensely, which may cause the lamp to explode. Use this homemade mountain trail outdoors, since he does not have an umbrella with a chimney.
Portable horn
The portable blacksmith's horn can be made with your own hands from a goose pot. The design can be understood from the figure, which is attached below. The lining here is fireclay sand, which is mixed with fireclay marl.
It is not necessary to inflate with a hand siren fan, as shown above. In principle, you can use any, which will be at hand. It will be possible to connect it, using metallofr. It, by the way, will make working with the length gauge somewhat more convenient. In this case, you will need to use air drainage at the dead end of the duct.
Of course, such a portable blacksmith's horn has more features, than a homemade horn of six bricks, which was described above, as it has more working space and is open from above. But it is necessary to mention the existing shortcomings of such a device:
- This horn has a non-demountable structure, and when cleaning the lance, the scale falls down. As a result, the air duct is perforated. To do the cleaning, it is necessary to break a lining.
- This homemade furnace can only work on charcoal or coke.
- Its operation is quite expensive: the consumption of carbon is comparable to the similar consumption of coal in real furnaces.
- It can work at relatively low temperatures: just before 900 degrees.
Stationary
This is the most serious, complex and productive version of a homemade blacksmith's furnace. It allows you to perform more complex manipulations.
Construction
The sequence of manufacture can be detected when considering the drawing, which is given below.
Photos are numbered, so you can track the whole process of designing such a homemade furnace.
A little advice for masters, who will be engaged in production of such furnace: it is impossible to inflate an air shower by the vacuum cleaner. In this case, there is a possibility, that the fuel blows. It is better to find a snail from the car stove and then use this device. Drainage to adjust the blast is also not suitable, as the boost will be too weak. It is better to build a throttle valve into the air duct, and the lower lance cover should be made removable only for further cleaning.
