Blog 1.5 BBQ Forge

     Hello and welcome to the fourth installment Seth Hopefully Doesn't Set His Yard On Fire, or SHDSHYOF, this week was really boring if I'm being honest with you. I let the forge burn for a couple of hours, checking it periodically, to ensure it wasn't going to burn through or somehow implode. I got really tired of just taking all of this time to make sure it's safe so instead of moving everything up this week, I'm going to do it next week and combine the last two weeks together. The forge itself was ultimately safe, and I think I will be just fine when it comes to crafting. 

    Next week I'll be finally getting my hands dirty like good ol' Mike Rowe. Later!

Blog 1.4 BBQ Forge

     Hello and welcome to the fourth installment Seth Hopefully Doesn't Set His Yard On Fire, or SHDSHYOF, things got hot this past week despite the cold weather. I encountered a road bump this week because of the heavy winds it was hard to get a fire started in my grill. I decided to use a piece of plywood to block the wind, and then once I had the fire lit I removed the cardboard and allowed the natural wind to stoke the fire. Once I had the fire lit I let it burns for about 30 minutes in order to make a nice layer of char and coals to ensure a good temperature when I get to forging. 

    The temperature I measured got to an upwards of 700 degrees! I fought the urge to test the power of the heat by throwing things in there to see how fast they will burn. I'm really eager to start forging so I think for next week we will skip the safety portion, and just move right into hitting steel. Hopefully the forge can get to a high enough heat so I can actually mold the piece of metal, but we will see how it goes. Burn next week!

Blog 1.3 BBQ Forge

    Hello and welcome to the third installment Seth Hopefully Doesn't Set His Yard On Fire, or SHDSHYOF, this week's tasks were the most challenging yet. After cleaning the grill last week we had to heat proof the bottom inside of the grill. We accomplished this by used a puffy-like plaster that acts as an insulation to protect the coal from burning through the bottom of the grill. By mixing the plaster of paris with some pearlite it turns the mixture into a refractory. A refractory is a substance that is resistant to decomposition by heat, therefore it made a great choice for lining. 

    I couldn't find any goods pictures to display how the application process goes so I'll use spray foam to try and make it easier to understand. The mixture we used applied thinly, but as time went on it slowly rose. In order to assure that we got an equal coat along the bottom we started from the sides and worked our way down the grill. My dad helped me mix and apply the refractory, and after it was finished being spread we let it sit to dry. The true test whether it was a success will be to see if it can hold heat later in the process.

    This is what the finished product looked like, again our grill is a little bigger, but this still helps visualize the project.

Check back next week to see some real pictures of the project, and to see the grill take one step closer to a coal forge!

Blog 1.2 BBQ Forge

     Hello and welcome to the second installment Seth Hopefully Doesn't Set His Yard On Fire, or SHDSHYOF, this week made for a lot of hard work and sweat. The grill that I'm making into a forge is just 3 years younger than me, coming in at a ripe 14 years old. Therefore, the grill had plenty of built up gunk and nastiness. To start off this long process I first needed to clean the grills inside. 

    This is similar to how my grill looked except mine had an inch or two thicker crust on the bottom which made it much more difficult to determine how deep I needed to scrub with my steel wool. In order to clean the grill I needed to scrape out all of the big debris first and then get to the steel beneath the grit without scrubbing too much off. Scrubbing with steel wool for so long began to hurt, but once I was finished it was satisfying to see the grill so clean.

    This picture shows the satisfying change from a dirty grill to a clean grill. Ensuring that there is a clean finish at the bottom is key to ensure that next weeks plans run smoothly. 

Check back next week to see the grill in its first step of transformation!