Where to Next?

For the past week, I’ve been at a loss of what to do next with the forge, and haven’t been able to make any solid progress due to this. With only one week left for me to work on the forge, I’m really feeling the pressure to finish up the project, but I can’t because I don’t know where to go next.

I want to make a more permanent forge that can be used consistently, and classes could potentially use it for projects, but I don’t know how to get there. Although I don’t know where to go next with my forge, I haven’t wasted the week, and have been working hard on a different project, the Bakso Cart. We made a lot of progress on the cart this week, and it is almost completely finished. The only thing that is going to be difficult to finish is the wheels for the Bakso Cart. Other than the wheels, we only have some small things to work on, like attaching the roof, making a panel, and making the thing look nice, which should be relatively easy. I think that if we work hard, we could have the cart done by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

First of all, I don’t think the current spot that the forge is in is the best place for it because it’s right next to a kindergarten play area, and there isn’t very much room to move around in the area. I’m worried that if there isn’t much space, people might get hurt due to their lack of mobility. Only small groups of people of about 2–3 can go into the forge area without it being dangerous. If I do relocate it to a different area in the school, where would it go? There isn’t very much room in the school that could house a forge area, and not be some sort of hazard, unless it’s so far out of the way that no one might use it. An ideal place for the forge would be a medium sized area with roofing so it doesn’t get wet, not far away from the Heart of School, but somewhat secluded so people won’t be around it all the time. Something like the Maker Space is great because it is close to the Heart of School, but people don’t go over there often, so when you work there people won’t interrupt your workflow and disturb you.

Another thing that I am conflicted with is how to change and improve the current design of the forge so it’s safer and more efficient. There was a lot that went well and a lot that went wrong, and it’s hard to figure out how to improve from there. For starters, I think that the overall design of the forge is just fine and could easily be the final design, and that would be that. Although I could do this, there is still plenty that could be improved upon, such as the material and how it’s made. I think that the bricks are great for the forge, but I feel that they aren’t very good quality of bricks since they crumble easily, which makes them hard to work with sometimes. Maybe if I got some better quality bricks, the stability of the forge would be more consistent, and there would be less cracks in the sides. The bricks that I used previously were already broken around the edges, and when they were put together there were open spots. They were also super light, and would move around while the forge was lit up. Maybe if I get some heat resistant plaster, like what they uses for the Ogoh Ogoh, then maybe I could use it as a cement, and make the forge more permanent, allowing less air to escape from the cracks. If there was the plaster there, there would be no cracks. Additionally, I wouldn’t even have to make a complete mold, I could just cover the corners of the bricks and make little squares out of them, so each layer could still be removed. Maybe I could also make the forge a little smaller, so charcoal wouldn’t touch the sides of the crucible, and all of the heat would be focused on the bottom of the crucible, which would allow cans to melt quicker, and forging would overall be much faster. If I do this, I would have to create a little shelf, or opening at the bottom of the forge, so I can put in more charcoal while the forge is active. If I do this, it would complicate the design a lot, and a lot of the hot air could be lost because there is an open hole where the forge is supposed to be the hottest. I also would have to worry about the bottom of the crucible melting or breaking from all of the concentrated heat on the bottom, but I think with the new crucible this shouldn’t be a problem. I could also put the hole for the charcoal at the bottom of the forge where the paper normally goes. After the forge is lit, that area is just wasted space and is only useful for pumping air into the forge. If the charcoal is put in down there, then I think that the hot air would not escape from the charcoal hole, but rather just travel up. The problem with that idea is that it could be hard to start up the forge, but I think a few failed attempts at starting the forge is worth a more efficient charcoal burning system that will overall speed up the forge process. I could also just completely trash the previous design of the forge, and make an entirely new design that wouldn’t use bricks, and just Ogoh Ogoh plaster, and good quality ceramics, or roof shingles. I’m not too sure I’m up to making an entirely new design to the forge quite yet, but I suppose that this is something that I can always do in the future.