I’ve discovered a problem with my current set-up … rain.
I have my forge, table with anvil, etc. tucked just inside the garage. When I want to do some smithing, I open the garage and pull everything out into the driveway. It’s a fairly sheltered area, with easy access to utilities (lights, water, power). At the end of the day, it’s quick and easy to move everything back inside.
Everything, except the forge. Being cast iron, I can’t actually extinguish the fire, because the thermal shock would crack the forge pan. So, I leave it outside to cool down overnight. What I wasn’t prepared for, was an early morning downpour.
Water plus wood ash equals a nasty mess, with the potential of being quite caustic.
Searching through the garage for something to cover up the forge when it’s outside, I found this:
It’s a dome, made of fairly heavy gauge stainless steel. What can I say, my late father-in-law was both a world-class scrounger, and a pack rat. It’s just about perfect, but a little bit too small (it fits just inside the lip of the pan).
I thought about trying to flare out the bottom of the dome to fit, but from what I understand, that would be really tough to do. I’m now thinking that I’ll make some form of an adapter ring out of mild steel.
