Foundry Lining Upgrade

Having re-furbished the foundry several times over years I have adjusted the recipe for the fire clay lining making it more efficient.

The original recipe is taken from traditional clay oven making, 2 parts fire clay, 2 parts sand, 1 part saw dust. I have experimented with the mixture quantities and traded saw dust for wood chip to create bigger air pockets. I now have a longer lasting and more insulating mixture.

The current mix is able to get to melting temperature in 30 min, which is much faster than before. It has also withstood over 20 firings without cracking, and is still intact for many more. When the lining does need replacing I will experiment further with the recipe so the foundry can go to higher temperatures to melt copper or bronze. The foundry is still charcoal powered, i have found that using coal briquettes are the most effective and economic as they reach high temperatures and have long burn time.