I got another batch heat treated today and it reinforced the notion that I needed a better way to do it than in the kitchen fire. I had been looking at gas forges for a couple of weeks and decided to build one for myself. There are a couple of good videos of how to make them from the 20lb gas bottles so when I was in the city yesterday I went to the metal scrap yard but the only gas bottle on the yard, had the top cut off it but there was a stack of lazer cut 10 3/4 in dia x 3/16 discs there so I got two of them as well as a length of 1 inch black pipe for legs.
This is the bits I bought home.
So the first job was to grind the opening out a little to fit the plate which was a simple mark and grind.
I decided to do the bottom as well because when they were doing them on the youtube it seemed like a bit of a chore to make the insulation conform to the semi rounded shape so I figured that a flat surface woudl be easier.