As I live in Canada, winter forced a break. A forge may be a nice place to warm up during the winter months, but digging it out from underneath a meter of snow is another affair entirely. So having gotten a taste of blacksmithing, I thought I’d remedy all the little inconveniences that the flower pot forges had in one go.

A sturdy cement block base would now hold a table made of welded 1×1″ square tubing which featured an inlaid fire brick center section that surrounded the tuyère and duck nest. Sheet metal was cut and folded to form a backing wall and two work surfaces.

The central section was made from a 3/16″ plate, with an 8″ plasma cut center hole that dropped down 1.5″ with a welded on piece of pipe. A 1/8″ square plate was drilled with a cross of 1/4″ holes. This would cover the 3″ tuyère pipe underneath. A Tee with a plug allowed the easy cleaning of accumulated ash before restarting the forge.

That fixed the ash accumulation problem. If I were to rebuild this forge, I’d forgo the 8″ pipe down step. As the brick height makes the hearth too deep. It allowed for the work to be placed across it, but the heat zone was just below the work pieces. A little bit of sheltered allowed me to operate the forge regardless of the weather, nothing fancy just a permanent temporary lean-to.

Having an actual work environment allowed me to start experimenting with the craft more easily than before. The time of day was somewhat important here, between 2 and 4 pm, the sun would hit the anvil, making it harder to see the metal’s hues.

Nonetheless, I started learning some of the basics. A pair of tongs taught me quite a few skills. Lessons learned, I would work the steel too cold or for too long after I’d lost the heat. This made the finer shapes harder to achieve.