My first furnace

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The next day, I mixed up another batch with the remaining 5 litres of perlite.

It still wasn't quite enough. To hell with it. I'll just make the insulation in the lid deep enough to fill the gap.

I waited till the next day to pull the form. I cut holes in the top of the form to give me something to hold onto whilst pulling it out.

Here's the uncured refractory. You can see the wooden form at the bottom. When it burns out it will leave an escape channel.

I filled the furnace half way with good quality charcoal & lit it up. I hadn't made the lid by this point so I just used some insulating bricks.