Hello all, my friend and I are making our very first knives and we want to do everything ourselves, including heat treating. I've been tasked with making the forge and so far all I've seen is a hundred different methods swearing all the other methods don't really work. Im looking to make a cheap and fast fire brick forge that will get the job done. It doesn't have to be fancy, use top dollar equipment, or even last longer than a few cycles. As we progress I'll build something much fancier, but for our first few knives the cheap methods work. The largest knife in question is about 7 inches in total (4 inch blade) and both are made with 1/8th inch 01 tool steel. So I have a few questions and I would greatly appreciate any and all help.
1. Would either/both of these work? I plan on using about 6 of them.
http://m.acehardware.com//product/in...b-74e1351efb50
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pro...ngle-firebrick
2. Is it required to get something to hold them together? And if so is refractory cement or the like necessary or will just building a casing around it suffice?
3. We are using a single run of the mill propane torch. Would two torches work better or would that be unnecessary?
4. For the torch, is propane even usable? And if so does having a pinpoint flame or a wide flame make a huge difference?
We are completely new to this so any tips or suggestions are great!
Keep in mind again that I don't expect this thing going to work amazing, last long, or work super fast. Just so long as it'll get the job done in perfectly happy with that. So again, thanks for any help!