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Hello there! New member here, me and my dad are in the middle of building a propane tank forge. So far it is all put together, cut open and ready for refractories. Here's our issue: He have some ceramic wool to line the inside, 1" thick. We know that it is better to do 2", and I think we have enough for 2". We Also have 2 5-gallon buckets of unknown refractory cement (We don't know what kind/brand it is, we just know that it is refractory cement). Our original plan was to line the forge with the wool, and then coat it with the refractory. But as I've been reading and looking around, I've heard about rigidizer and that wool insulates better, etc. So we are wondering what we should do. I think we are going to line it and try a thin layer of the cement on the bottom to test the cement and to see how well it adheres and such to the wool. We just need advice and tips, what we should do, etc... We haven't built one of theses before (Obviously) but we have built a brake drum open forge. The other thing we want to do is to use a blower and coal rather then propane because we have a TON of coal. We are making it so we can use coal or we will be able to switch out the fan for a propane burner. We are going to have a rounded bottom in the forge, rather then flat so that when we put coal in it the coal will make a flat bed to put the steel/knives/etc. on top of it. We have put the face of the forge on a hinge so we can open it and clean it out, shovel the coal out, etc. Thoughts on this? The last thing for right now is that we have seen people put a hole in the back of the forge, and we aren't sure if it is for anything other then just long pieces of bar stock, so insight on this would be great. And, literally anything you could tell me about blacksmithing! Any tips, tricks, advice, literally anything would be helpful. We have a shop with lots of tools and machines, and we have both done a bit of blacksmithing, but I want to really expand my blacksmithing knowledge and skill this year, Thanks!

Hi. I built a gas forge from a paint can. A lot of shortcuts were taken to save time and money. Many things were not done quite right according to helpful posts in this subgroup. The forge was lined with a homemade refractory composed of fireclay, grog, perlite, wood ash, and concrete. When it was first built, it could barely weld mild steel. Since it was outside, it eventually rusted through and the refractory collapsed. Even after repairs, it wouldn't weld. Some colleagues wanted to use it, so it looked like time for a new one.

Another newbie with forge questions. Details: a. 20# propane tank b. Frosty burner Questions: 1. does rigidizer = colloidal silica? 2. how do i apply it? before tucking the kaowool into the tank? Any other tips for applying it? (Frosty mentioned sopping wet kaowool in one post, but i couldn't figure out the context. 3. What's the best angle to set the burner into the tank? I've scoured the archives and found answers to most everything else--Thanks all!! These are the questions that remain.