Overheard a guy at the scrap yard talking about his forge lining

He was telling another smith he mixes a little bit of wood ash into his clay for the forge floor. Said it helps the lining handle the heat changes without cracking as much. I tried it with about a cup of ash in my last batch, and my little coal forge has held up way better over the winter. Has anyone else tried something like that, or have a different trick for keeping a forge lining solid?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_lewis91mo ago

Oh wow, that's a cool trick... my uncle used to throw a handful of sand into his mortar mix for the same reason, said it stopped his chimney from spalling.

michaelrodriguez1mo ago

Mixing wood ash sounds risky, I've always found a pure clay mix to be more reliable for me.