Serious question: Did anyone else's first forge build take way longer than you expected?

I planned to build a simple gas forge in my garage over a long weekend. Figured maybe two days tops for cutting, welding, and lining. But the firebrick I ordered was the wrong size, so I had to trim every single one by hand. Then the refractory cement took a full week to cure properly, not the 24 hours the bag said. By the time I got it fired up, it was almost two weeks later. I was so frustrated at first, but now I realize rushing a forge is how you get burnouts or bad heat. Did you have a similar build that ran way over schedule?

3 comments

3 Comments

dianawilson6d ago

Honestly, my buddy tried building his first forge and thought he'd be done in a weekend. Then his welder kept blowing fuses and he had to wait three days for a new one. He said by the time the liner was cured he'd almost forgotten what he was building.

ray_burns5d ago

Haha oh man that sounds about right. I read somewhere that building a forge is like 90% waiting for stuff to dry or cure and 10% actually doing anything.

max_schmidt775d ago

Had a buddy whose refractory kept cracking on him, took him a month just to get the liner right.