Not a bad start!
What is the inner line made of? Also, I would very much like to see some photos of the forge in action.
The reason I mention these two bits is to ascertain the use and expectations of the unit in question. It appears that the burner enters the forge at a fairly steep angle (across the forge body). This kinda defeats the purpose of the cylindrical, horizontal design.
The horizontal cylindrical forge has really only one advantage over square bosy or vertical designs, that being the ability to keep the workpiece out of the flame front, where oxygen levels are high enough to cause large amounts of scaling and decarb. With a flame that points across the chamber, this advantage is almost completely defeated.
Also, this advantage is almost completely nullified in a ceramic wool only forge, even with a floor of hard firebrick. In order to take full advantage of the cylindrical / horizontal design, the inner liner should be a refractory with a higher thermal mass than ceramic wool, which is used to insulate the refractory. Being more durable than the wool insulators is a major plus to long term use as well, otherwise, you would be as well off using a coffe can and a propane torch.
I don't mean to seem overly critical, and I'm not trying to be a dick about it. You did a MUCH better job than my first three forges, and I'm quite sure it'll work beautifully for everything you want it to do and more. However, there is a lot of information about forges and forge construction floating around, and I would like to see the level of expectation in general raised a notch. There are some square body forges originally presented as competition farrier's units being ponned off as knifemakers forges at two to three time the price one could build a forge for, and if someone didn't know there was a difference, they could easily be taken over a barrel.
You, on the other hand, have taken it on yourself to build your own. Thus showing both the inginuity and, frankly, the wisdom to understand your tools and make what you want the way you want it. Not to mention the patience to learn the principals involved and the frugality / intelligence to save not insignificant amounts of money when you could have spent twice as much and just purchased an inferior product.
I do have a question, though. If you have the patience to humor an idiot ike me, who had had more to drink tonight than I should have. I have wondered from time to time on the chimney effect that having an upswept burner might or might not have on the flame in a setup like yours. I read somewhere ( I cannot recall quite where) that a burner should come in from the side or underneath to avoid having pressure and / or flame problems that might arise if the burner were to come in from the top. I have not seen any confirmation nor denial of this effect from any other source, and wonder from time to time at the validity of the argument. If you've any input on that front, please do share.
