Making a Foundry Furnace From An Old Water Heater, Part 1 

Where we lived when I was a kid, we had gypsum rock in the local groundwater. It was nontoxic, but it would eventually build up inside your plumbing. People would use water heaters for ten or fifteen years and replace them because they'd be down to half their original water volume. Turns out accreted gypsum rock is a pretty damn good refractory stone. We cut old water heaters in half (with substantial difficulty, but we did) and used them for firepits, barbecues, kilns, and, yes, foundries.

That belt grinder trick is a great idea. Thanks

Now this is the best idea I've seen yet , we just recently found a gold vein on our property ,

Lucky is awesome, very helpful, a total pro. Lovely furnace upgrade. Very nice to see insulation in there, I didn’t do it on mine and I wish I had. Great video as usual.

Very nice alpha-omega How To Video. You did good! The Satanite furnaces are super efficient, light weight, speedy melters. I mix the Satanite pretty thin for the first coat, it pulls a little deeper into the wool for better adhesion. If the hardware cloth gives up on you, tack washers onto the support rods, the wool doesn't weigh enough to pull loose. Two coats max on the lid wool. Mine has been hanging on for over 5 years.

To cure the lid contact area, just block off the center vent and use some spacers so the exhaust has to come out from between the lid and the case.

Ahh yes. A realistic representation of ‘How To’. This is awesome info on a build. Thank you

Love how you tell us about tool

Inspired. Well done!

Leon the legend is looking very good and healthy

Hello from Saskatchewan, Canada great videos thanks for sharing

Wish you the best ❤

Awesome video

I subscribed. I NEED to make one of those. Devil Forge ripped me off, and I need a new furnace ASAP

Thanks for the build info. I would have put a 3" radius on each of the 4 base corners, for the sake of my and other's ancles. Appreciate the info of the satanite costing less and performing better than the refractory.

Fkng outstanding job!👏👏👏👍👍👍👍

That’s going to be nice

seen them use a 100 watt lightbulb to dry out the cement , it dries a lot slower and is less likely to crack

fun vids dude!!

We used Kao wool at the Steel Mill where I worked. We made SS and are one of the Top Ten SS Steel makes in the world. That stuff is amazing ! Years ago I could have had some of it. Did not need it then. I did not know you could buy it from Amazon.

A circle burner for your torch would be a nice touch.

Awesome job! New Subscriber!

Waxpaper is a good thing to use when wanting to separate parts, in these types of applications.

I just had this idea and sure enough there is a video on how to do it. I am going to use the tank itself though and not just the skin. I have been a subscriber for sometime and just watched the video on tearing the water heater down. I watched the mini track hoe video and the dump truck video a while back, I realize now that this channel and my projects are very similar.

2:22 sounds just like the Flight of the Bubblebee

Hey Man... I love your videos! The cannon is incredible!!! I have been wanting to try metal casting for years, but have always talked myself out of it due to the associated costs and dangers. But I think I am finally ready to go for it. I followed all your links in the description to try and extimae the total cost to build a casting foundry, and here is what I came up with... 1.) Ceramic Fiber Blanket 2600F 2" thick "x 24" wide x 12.5 ft. long = $126.49 + $40.30 shipping (Woah! What's up with the shipping?!) 2.) ITC-100HT Pint Ceramic Radiant Heat Reflection & Protective Refractory Coating = $55.00 + $20.74 shipping (Is one pint enough?) 3.) MEECO'S RED DEVIL 611 Refractory Cement = $32.47 4.) Satanite Refractory Mortar: 20 lbs: $62.35 Total: $337.35 If you don't mind a few questions, or if you might one day do an update video as kind of a Q&A, here are the things that I'd LOVE to know... 1.) I do not have a water heater to cannibalize. Any other ideas for a vessel? 2.) I do not have the equipment or experience to weld. Would you say it is impossible to build a forge without welding it? 3.) Do all of the things I have listed above look correct to you, and are the prices about right? i.e. would I need to order two of the Fire Blankers or is one 12.5 ft. role enough? 4.) Do you have a video on the burner? 5.) Do you have a video on crucibles? Where to get them, things to consider. etc?

cool beans

I was thinking of using a 6 gallon trash can from the hardware store with a lid. Being galvanized would that be a good way to go. Propane bottles are more expensive and the trash can is already kind of made for it. Thanks for the awesome demo.

Watching you work in the way you do things reminds me of the way my dad did stuff. He’s dead now

Just subscribed. Great videos, reminds me of myself a bit, here in Llangollen UK. Cannot beat a bit of tinkering in the workshop and ripping stuff apart ! Whats the drill attachment bit at 2.30 ?? Adrian

You can weld stainless steel with a mig welder. I do it all the time at work. U just need the right type of wire specifically for it if u want it all to be the same

I húst subscribed, I like your way of Working, good job, keep it up. Presentation is good, detailed. Thanks Old Bob

I made a foundry out of a half barrel. Essentially did the same thing as you did with the kao wool and then I used satanite as a refractory coating. The satanite cracked as did yours. I kept adding, and adding, and touching up, and adding. I realized my ocd-need to have it smooth and pretty was not to be. That was a good idea with the refractory cement over the top.

YEA LUCKY ! COOL DUDE

As long as you use stainless wire you can weld anything that’s stainless.

hey bro don't take it wrong, but coming from an old backyard foundryman a fifty-five gallon barrel is 22 inches across ( the same as lucky's ) much easier, only have to cut for height as well as enough left over for lid.

What’s that attachment on your drill called that you cleaned up the bracket holes with?

Can I use a stainless steel liner made from a beer keg to help hold the cement mixture together?

how many hour/days did this take you ? you make it look easy

Will you look at that, the old furnace fits inside of the new one.

7:55 as soon as I saw bare skin on the insulation I knew that was a mistake. LOL

@Whoop !

How long did your furnace last before breaking down the in side ?

eugene what is the insolation that you used and ware did get it at? good show thank you.

You CAN weld Stainless Steel (3xx series) using Flux Core wire using 309 stainless wire, either to itself, or to carbon steel, without embrittling it with carbon.

From what I understand when the ite is added to something it means that whatever it is added to is being opposed. So Satanite is opposing Satan. But I could be wrong and I thought I would add my 2 cents. I also like your build as it has helped me look into things that might be better than satanite. I am also going to pack my K-wool around the inside of my furnace like you did in the lid of your earlier furnace.

And yes, satanite was a trade name, and yes it was a reference to how hot a temperature it could withstand.

for welding stainless it's because of the fumes, be careful

You should do a collaboration with Peter Brown You two sound the same, why not?

Could a thermometer be fitted?

Thermal bridging?

Your mistake? My guess is once the top is positioned over the kiln, the satanite bound to the wool become like a spring/damper for thermal heat, as well as the weight of the casting; this causing the insulation to sag when pulled on by the hardened satanite. It will sort of hang from the insulation, even with the reinforcement. ?

It be nice if there were some well-less ones.

Hie sir. What are the internal dimensions of your furnace

I know this is a stupid question but what type of insulation is that

10:00 there might be moisture trapped that can be explode later ......

Whats that white stuff u put in inside

I don't know what the hogwash about stainless steel is, the only thing that welding SS without SS gets you is less corrosion resistance. The process for MIG welding stainless or TIG welding stainless is EXACTLY the same as mild steel. The only difference with MIG is that you use Tri-mix as the shielding gas (He-Ar-CO2) and stainless wire. You can get self-shielded stainless wire too (flux core). For TIG, the only difference is the filler wire.

Do you sell them

mistake in progress , thats so funny

OK, then why does anyone use refractory cement instead of this insulation?

you should really wear a respirator, or at least a mask when working with that insulation stuff. super nasty to your lungs...

I don't understand why you used the sheet metal skin to build the furnace. Seems like it would have been much less work had you used the top half of the water tank. You had to add a lot of steel to reinforce the attachments to the sheet metal that you could have done away with by using the heavier gauge steel.

Why didn't you use the actual heater itself? This is just the cover.

Used wax paper

I came across your video while looking for foundry that is close to what i had built etc. I just finished building my furnace and propane heater but I think i may not have enough heat to properly attain temperature. I built the foundry out of a 55 gallon drum. I found someone who had a ceramic shield drum about 2 inches thick and about 14 inches inner diameter and about the height of the drum but i had to cut off some since i cut the drum roughly 5 inches to have a shielded top etc. I also had kaowool and used this to help insulate the space between the ceramic shield and the drum added extra heat protection etc. SO i fired the propane heater and waited fro 10 minutes but it did not get a glowing orange heat. I am suspecting that i have too much volume that needs heating etc. I am debating whether or not to add a blower to the torch to ramp up more heat etc. your thoughts or anyone else etc I could provide pictures etc let me know.... Thanks guys!

It looked like you were doing some quick welds without gloves. Hopefully you don't still do that. The UV from the arc will increase risk of skin cancer.

Yea it’s to big around to sit down inside

welding stainless steel with a mig makes cyanide gas if not set up 4 ss

Satanite? Meet Samsonite. lol

Be more carfull with thats asbestos brother. Gd vid

is that a cotton??? am so confused

Mistake in Progress was priceless, hahahahahahah

Cant weld stainless. Hundreds of times with my mig. Come on

THANK YOU for --- NOT ---- referring to it as a "hot.water.heater" as soooo many people do. they say it, and I wish to ask them "if the water is HOT, then HOW do you HEAT it???? its either a water tank, or "water Heater."☝🧐

All the gear but not much idea? (writes the man with neither)

YOU flipped your lid

My eyes, my eyes!!! 🤪

I refuse to watch videos with the “Q” thing. I wanna watch a video....not a big “Q” videoo!

Go big or go home wright

All hail satanite!

fooling with ceramic insulation and no mask is not smart

Disliked for using satanic names products