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Heads up about those cheap refractory bricks from that online auction site | Foundry Workers - nhfree.com

Heads up about those cheap refractory bricks from that online auction site

I bought a pallet of 'factory surplus' bricks for $800 to patch our main furnace lining. They crumbled after two heats, and we had to shut down for a full day to redo the whole section with proper material. The downtime cost us way more than the bricks saved. Has anyone found a reliable supplier for decent budget refractories?

3 comments

3 Comments

bettywilson6mo ago

Oh man, that's rough. I saw a forum post last week where a guy said the same thing happened with those "seconds" or "surplus" bricks. He was using them in a small forge and they just turned to powder, said it was like they were never fired right. Makes you wonder if they're just rejects that failed quality checks. I've had good luck calling up local industrial supply places and asking for their off-cuts or odd lots. Sometimes you can get decent stuff that way without the mystery auction gamble.

terry_barnes6mo ago

Heard about a buddy who tried those exact bricks in his pottery kiln. He got them cheap from some warehouse clearance flyer. They looked fine going in, but after the first real firing they just sort of sagged and cracked all over. He ended up with a huge mess of half-melted brick and clay clogging everything. Total nightmare to clean out.

dakotacraig5mo ago

Yeah, but I gotta be honest, I'm not totally sold on that theory. Plenty of "seconds" bricks are just cosmetic rejects with a chip or a weird color, they'll still take the heat fine. I've used surplus firebrick from a local factory that was basically just rejects for being a little too small, and they held up through a dozen firings no problem. Sounds like your buddy's problem might've been more about the specific warehouse he got them from or maybe he just got a bad batch. Not every cheap brick is automatically garbage, you just have to know who you're buying from.

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