First off: I know even less than Jon Snow.
I got on a tangent one day. Dove down a rabbit hole that led to another and then another and now all of a sudden I find myself considering the possibility of building a forge, mostly just for personal use/entertainment. They say hobbies are good for you.
One of the things that led me to this point originally was the possibility of making glass. Glass furnaces led to kilns which led to forges and metal and fire are both really cool. (The background may make sense later.)
My main question is: why aren't coal forges enclosed rather than just being an open bed of coal? (I know their design, shape, etc. are much more complicated than that, but they are overall not very complicated it doesn't seem.)
There may not be a huge advantage to enclosing one just from a forging standpoint, but (here's where the background makes a little more sense) it seemed to me that it may be possible to build something that works as a forge, kiln, and glass furnace all in one (even without drastically over-complicating the design).
I also realize that such a thing would probably not be great at any of these things, but I drive with one set of tires on my truck which aren't especially good for snow, or mud, or highway, or racetrack cornering, but overall they are fairly handy in a lot of scenarios.
I figured I wouldn't go very far into my design thoughts since this will probably all be shut down pretty quickly by someone with real knowledge, but if that's not the case I could discuss further. But anyway I'm here to learn, so someone school me, just be gentle with the ruler.
