Whit30

Hello everyone, If this is in the wrong place, please advise me where to put it. I didn't feel posting under a particular forge was not the right place. My needs are a low cost forge for knives and railroad spikes. At first, I want to buy knife blanks that are not HT and practice doing some decorative file work on them and then heat treating them. With this in mind, could I get by with filing a heat treated blade and not need to take the treat out? I have read so many things that counter the other. I also want to do projects with railroad spikes. From hangers to knives and anything in between. So I don't need a lot of fancy stuff right now as money is a factor. For my purposes, would you suggest a coffe can forge using the ceramic blanket and propane torch, using an old charcoal grill and possibly buying a few fire insulating bricks and an air blower? Will the coffee can forge get hot enough for forging the railroad spikes? Does it need to be a double burner or will a single torch be enough? Finally, if you feel the can is the way to go, the blankets come in 1" and 2" in thickness. It looks like most are using the 1 inch in the cans. It it's hard to tell. Will the extra cost for the 2" be justified? Thank you for any suggestions and tips as I can't wait to get into the hobby. Thanks again and take care!