Paint can forge questions

[Waldors]

Hello all.

I have three questions on paint can forges:

1. What burner should I use? I got the book $50 Knife Shop by Wayne Goddard and he suggests using a regular bernzomatic propane torch with a hose. I have also heard of using home made burners, but some of these (like the reil burner) seem overkill for a small paint can forge. I have also been recommended use of a brush burning torch like this one linked here, which also seems overkill for a small propane forge. My most readily available source of fuel is the small green coleman propane canisters.

2. Can I use furnace cement like this linked here to coat a layer of kaowool on the inside of the forge? Is it really necessary?

3. How many inches thick should the kaowool on the inside of the forge be?

Thanks all.

 

[Doug Lester]

A blown burner of some type would be the way I'd go but that's just what I like to use as a burner. Venturi burners have to be matched to the volume of the forge. The hand burner with an adapter for a larger tank would be better than the weed burner due to volume of the forge. The furnace patch would work to coat the ceramic matting (read KaoWool/Inswool) though you might have to thin it a bit and then let it dry. Unless you are talking about using a 5 gallon bucket for the body of your forge two layers of ceramic matting is all you will be able to use and you might have to reduce it to a single layer if your work is very wide.

Doug

 

[TacticallySharp]

I have used that same torch and one layer of 1" with two layers of kitty litter clay mixed with a little vermiculite as the coating (Sugar Creek Forge/YouTube style) and it worked. I did it just to learn about small forge building. The coating of the kaowool does two things,

Helps keep the forge temperature even and hot.

Saves your lungs from the nasty fibers it releases.

So it is necessary!

I run my torch off a bbq propane tank, propane is available just about everywhere and a lot cheaper than those little green bottles.

 

[Waldors]

I have used that same torch

So these work well? Even in something as small as a paint can forge? I am having a hard time seeing how this would work as the torch seems so large and paint can forges so small.

I run my torch off a bbq propane tank, propane is available just about everywhere and a lot cheaper than those little green bottles.

So a bbq propane tank would be a good investment? How much does it usually cost to get them re-filled?

I have also found plans for larger forges in 5 gallon buckets like this one linked here. Should I just go ahead and build one of those, or start out with a paint can?

Also, If I want to use it primarily for heat treating should both ends of the forge be open? I have heard this helps better with even distribution of heat.

Thanks.