sounds like what he wants is a furnace or oven...nothing wrong with being a newbie but the nomenclature is a little confusing.
forge: something you heat metal up in before forging, as Dave described
forging: beating away on said metal, i.e. blacksmithing
furnace: something you place a container of metal in to melt it prior to casting, usually using some kind of gas for fuel
casting: pouring molten metal in to a mold then letting it cool
oven: a little finer temp control than a furnace, nice ones have controllers that ramp up, soak and ramp down controls allowing a variety of heat treating processes, can be used for melting smaller quantities of non ferrous
kiln: something pottery peeps use, definitely not part of a he-man metal working type's lexicon.
Well ok, not sure about the last one.
PS, having an oven would be a real luxury, but most of us home shop types regularly heat treat home made tooling with nothing more than a pair of pliers, propane torch and a tin of old oil. |