Progress update for 6-11-09

Over the past few weeks we have put our homemade brick aluminum furnace to some good use casting stuff.

We reached temps higher than before. The aluminum melted very well.

This is a sword William cast from the scraps we had.

Hers an axe head he made also. Its rough but he likes it.

Some arrows he cast and later made into spear points.

Full day of brick furnace use! May 09, 09

Both of my sons and I spent the day firing the furnace to melt down loads of aluminum for some practice casting. Its the hottest fire we have had in the furnace yet.

Here is the aluminum we have melted down. It took about 20 to 30 min of the fire at full go to melt the scraps of aluminum down. We went thru about 3-4 wheelbarrows of firewood also.

We need to sift the rocks out of the sand in the future for a casting with finer details.

The happy results of an afternoon of effort.

Construction update 3-20-09

Poured some concrete for the bottom of the flue passthru and ash chute. It is a concrete made with sand and gravel from a closeby creekbed. In the mix is a portion of clay. The idea being to give it some ability to resist the heat of the gases as they pass thru the flue.