Cyrilak

Thanks for the help, it must be somewhat forgiving then if it's been mixed in different ways, I was planning on curing it with my burner to decrease the drying time

Hello all, I bought some fumed silica and it is to my understanding that I just need to mix that with tap water to make my rigidizer for my kaowool.  What consistency should it be? I read somewhere where someone was using a spray bottle to disperse it so it must not be that thick? Thanks In advance.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll do the 2 one inch layers with the rigidizer then the refractory on the final later 

Thank you those of you that actually helped

4 hours ago, Mikey98118 said:

No bricks; nix the bricks!!!

Ceramic wool is not your easiest choice; its the most practical choice.

Use two inches, but lay it down in two 1" layers, for best results. Mix up fumed silica or buy silica rigidizer to treat each layer with with; and heat each layer SEPARATELY.

Then you are ready to think of your hot face finish coat. Refractory is fine, and other coatings are also fine; you can do a little digging to unearth what they might be.

Why not put bricks on the bottom?

Hello all, I am going to start building my forge and I am just finishing ordering everything, I have a few questions about insulation.  From what I have read, it seems like using ceramic wool is the easiest way to insulate a gas forge, I know it needs to be replaced once in a while because it wears down.  Is it best to have 2" of insulation? And are you supposed to line the wool with refractory cement? Or just use straight wool? I know the stuff is bad for your lungs and I was wondering if it lets particles off in the air while it's burning. I plan on laying fire bricks on the very bottom of my forge. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for the advice, no I haven't bought those 

Thanks I plan on it, I think I'll just use one tank and then add an opening in the back with a hinge so I can close it to keep the heat in. My biggest concern is getting a nice even heat treat when I do swords. But obviously that won't be for a long time. Until I feel comfortable with my knives.  I know there are a lot of tricks of the trade some people do.  As I said I'm new and I'm just looking for as much advice as I can get. I will probably just buy a preassembled burner because I have been pretty busy and building the forge is already going to be a nice project in itself and I would like to get going as soon as I can. I will look at what kind of stones I can get for my bench grinder and see how the knives turn out, if I don't like it I'll just have to suck it up and buy a belt grinder.  

Hello all, new to this forum and I was hoping I could get some advice. I am really interested in Smithing and I would like to pick up this hobby, and I have some questions.  I am going to start building my forge.  I was thinking about welding two 20 pound propane tanks together. I plan on making knives and small swords/machetes and the likes. I plan on lining it with 2 inches of kaowool with firebrick on the bottom and adding a door and all that. It is going to be a propane forge. My first question is will this forge  need 2 burners? Or just one? I know there are different kinds of burners. Am I going overkill on size? Should I just use one 20 pound tank? What size anvil should I be looking for? And I am aware that a belt grinder is the best tool for grinding the blades, but I'm trying to save money because I'm buying a pistol soon.  Would a bench grinder suffice if I use a softer stone? Sorry for all of the questions I just want to do things right.