Sterling

Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. Im lucky now because I didn't realize my brother bought a nice small single burner round forge that I started using, so I'll still build this one a little bit larger to use later on for swords if i ever get there (but I realized its still way too big lol) Since then Ive found this group, so now I'd like to ideally work on figuring out the blacksmithing/bladesmithing part, while also attempting to build a decent functioning larger forge. I really appreciate the helpfulness and kindness of this group. I would still be scouring the internet for unreliable examples.

Gotcha! That helps so much, In that case it seems like I could still use this box just fill lots of the volume with the wool, and then be sure to coat it with the 2 appropriate coatings you mentioned. Since i have an excess of insulating material it seems I could still salvage this forge and shape an appropriate interior with the insulating materials. Starting to read the other threads now, i really appreciate all the comments here, lots of very helpful information. I'm also thinking I should bring my burners closer together and go to a double burner instead.. I wanted to do swords at some point and I have a small single burner forge I'm using for the time being that has been teaching me a lot about heat in a forge and what not.. Im mostly trying to get this ready to do some bigger blades when I'm able to do that once I figure out smaller blades.

it was free and I thought more insulation would be better, even though steel isn’t an insulator, also it was going off other homemade forge design videos that I saw, that didn’t talk about some of the finer details I’ve seen here.. and I basically found this forum way too late in my “project” I will be reading the other threads tonight and if it’s addressed there, then no need to reply, but is it accurate to say the more insulation/thickness of material in a forge the longer it takes to heat up that forge to working temperature?

The main reason I used most materials there is because they were laying around and free. I figured more would be better but I’m learning a lot lol ill definitely read through those other topics, thank y’all so much for everything so far, it’s already been tremendously helpful!!

Cause I'm an idiot and very new to this lol I have never done any blacksmithing so I basically have no idea what I'm doing. figured getting a heat source was the first step so thats what this was supposed to be. I thought I could burn one burner at a time if need be but that doesn't really seem like an option, so now the plan is to bring the burners closer together, and then maybe close in the back area with 3-4 layers of firebrick to cut down on that length. I'm not sure if over insulating is a problem inside the forge? I guess the biggest downside would be that it would take longer to heat up? If over insulating is a problem, then I could just cut off some length to shorten it up.

I read other posts trying to determine what to do but I figured ya'll need to see this yourselves. I have soooo many questions. Feel free to give any advice about this setup. Box is roughly 12"x14"x24" with half inch plate steel, the burners are on a 0-30psi adjustable regulator and they are roughly 4" spaced apart, I was thinking of decreasing the spacing between the burners, and I was going to double line the inside of the steel box with Inswool 2300F, mount that with Hellcote 3000 Refractory Cement, and then have firebrick walls and floor as my working area. I thought the insulation would take up plenty volume that I'd have a small enough working area, and I thought I could always add more insulation to close in more volume if need be. My forge starts to choke out when its vertical like this right now, I wasn't sure if I should try using it on its side, or maybe angle the burners in there to help create more convection? before I tried putting in insulation I wanted to know if i should basically just scrap this or if I can still make this work. Sorry in advance for my ignorance, this is mostly me googling things, comparing, and reverse engineering. I appreciate all help and responses.