Patio or porch on forge

[Pigsticker]

Recently I've received more help from this site and it's members than I've been able to process. Thanks a million guys

I have 2 questions:

Is there any way to check if ridgidizer worked? I dyed it and got it evenly coated but it probably got hotter than red when I set it with fire (this should happen at first firing of forge to actually use it right. I know if it feels compacted, but everytime I touch leftover plain blanket scraps it makes me doubt things. Plain feels rigidized if that makes sense

Second thing is I left 1'" of blanket out of the ends to make a patio/porch. I plan on sealing with kastolite then matrikote. I can do the extra 1" in those materials. Will this work or should I cut it. If I cut it do I need to rerigidize the cut line?

* Bonus ? what happens if ridgidizer gets cooked past "red?'ve got a rare afternoon off with energy so your Input is greatly appreciated.

ThAnks for everyone's time

 

 

[Frosty]

That'd be a different way of making a porch. Usually all you need is something that can take the heat of living at the forge mouth, 3,000f hard fire brick is probably the most common. You want durable and reasonably flat and smooth so you can stand your heat baffle on the porch without them tipping. Making steel slides for the door baffles is popular too. My preference for anything close to the opening is refractory so it doesn't warp or scale away. 

The silica rigidizer you used doesn't start to degrade until around 2,000f, call it high orange. 

If your Kaowool didn't stiffen up noticeably butter and rigidize it again. It's not going to get hard, just a little stiffer.

Frosty The Lucky.