MarriedWithAnvils Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 So, I just bought my first forge: a Hell's Forge double burner, large capacity knife model. It's about 19" long, 7" wide, and 4" tall in the oval mouth (after compensating for the 1" blanket). It's a bit smaller than I may have wanted, but the deal is done and it's in my shop. The problem isn't the forge size, it's that they sent 1.25" fire brick along with it to use as the forge floor. That's fine, but it makes the opening even smaller. I'm not making knives, but I am making smaller projects as I'm a beginner blacksmith at best right now. The goal is to eventually get to knife making, so that's all fine. But an oval opening with a flat fire brick floor is a complete WASTE of space. There's a gap between the bottom of the refractory and the fire brick because of the oval forge shape. It just seems silly to waste space because of a thick fire brick as the floor. But, what are the alternatives? They don't make thinner fire brick because of physics and all that. I could risk cracking the refractory by exposure to the direct heat over time if I don't use the brick. My question is simply this: is there another solution to a forge floor other than 1.25" fire brick? Something thinner that would still protect the refractory? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Ceramic fiberboard or you could cast something from Kast-O-lite 30 or a similar product. You may if you haven't already, want to rigidize and coat that blanket with castable refractory. The stuff that comes with the forge that they call rigidizer looks like a refractory coating and not a colloidal silica rigidizer. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 You could use high alumina kiln shelf if you have a pottery supplier near you or as we did coat the floor with bubble alumina (Kast-O-Lite) as we did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarriedWithAnvils Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 Does anyone have 5lbs of Kast-o-Lite I could buy from them? My forge is small and I’m not buying a 55lb. bag! All I need is 5lbs max. Anyone? The rest of the options are out of sight price-wise for what I need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Here you go. Just PM Glenn. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/61871-kast-o-lite-30/ Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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