Michael jude

Sure thing, The next forge I build, my first propane, will be a tool for tool construction. The tools I will be producing immediately are a froe, draw knifes, adze, carving knives and various chisels. Its use will inevitably include welding. I am not wedded to a design yet, but likely, a single burner tube or D with pass through. A minimum chamber floor of 5” wide 9” deep. over the past few months I have been collecting various materials, presently I have enough ceramic fiber to build a crematorium, (unfortunately rated 2300), ridgedizer, and a little tub of itc-100. I have been looking to source a local castable but the best I can find is this stuff but the silica/alumina ratio looks backwards? http://alsey.com/assets/pdf/msds/SDS_HI-CAST_45_R20151215.pdf a vertical casting furnace is also right down the road. I was thinking about Kastolite30, with glass balloons, constructed at a half inch thickness, (ideal ratio welcome) then a layer of satanite, itc-100 with a finish of the itc-100 wash. dried slow and fired between layers. though that is a total guess having used neither satanite or itc-100 and the proprietary formula of the latter being a secret I can't tell if it is redundant on the really quite high alumina satanite. I could be wrong but I think I read here that itc-100 is a flux shield as well as the IR benefit. As for doors is there any benefit to refractory hard brick over brick shaped castable? finally wondering if people have had trouble with the drying and first fire of kastolite? if so has anyone tried adding paper pulp? thanks again

Gentleman thank you all for putting this thread together. Having read through its entirety a sticking point remains for me. I realize there are many suitable solutions and therefor asking for the right way is naive. However in your opinions what is the hierarchy of forge liners from the ceramic fiber blanket inward? For the sake of argument money and availability are no constraints. The players I can come up with off the top my head are Kastolite 30, Satanite, itc-100, Zirconium silicate, bentonite, glass micro spheres, high alumina kiln shelving, Veegum\Zirconium silicate Understanding that many of these are used in concert including successful thicknesses of application and percentages added of lets say micro spheres to Kastolite or Zirconium silicate in kitty litter derived bentonite etc. would be very helpful. it may seem that i’m looking for create the “perfect forge”, in truth I just want don't to waste my money putting expensive materials like itc-100 on a liner that is quick to crumble. or adding a potentially unnecessary layer of Satanite between kastolite and a bentonite kiln wash. I do understand that with enough use just about everything is consumable, just prefer building for efficiency and longevity. Thank you