Mark F.

Hello, I'm extremely new to blacksmithing, having just begun dabbling this year, but I've found this site extremely useful in terms of answering questions and such. With that said, I've probably been a bit over zealous in acquiring things before I have a lot of experience. I'd started out with a JABOD forge, but I came across a forge and blower for sale that seemed like too good a deal to pass up. From reading other people's posts on this site I've come to realize I probably need to "clay" the forge as I believe it's cast iron. I'm posting this in hopes of getting some feed-back to see if I'm correct. I'll also apologize up front as I don't have much, if any, experience with on-line groups and forums, so I'm hoping this post is in the right place. Assuming I've successfully attached a picture of the forge, the firepot is removable, with the front and back lips being level with the table top; however, the sides of the fire pot are slightly higher and have a lip that protrudes out over the table top, leaving a gap between the fire pot and the table top. If I'm correct from reading other posts that I need to "clay" the forge, would I need to clay the table top, or just the fire pot? I will go back and re-read/search for more information on claying, but since I'm already asking for advice, can I ask here how thick a layer of clay I should be aiming for? My assumption is the forge originally had a clinker breaker, but as is the throat of the air intake (is this referred to as the tuyere in a bottom blast forge, or is that a term only in a side-blast?) is just a round opening. I fabricated a grate, but in hindsight I think I made it too large, thus making the fire pot too shallow. It will be an easy enough fix, but this leads to the question of whether I would put the grate in place prior to claying the fire pot (essentially fixing it in place), or clay the fire pot in such a way that the grate sits on top of the clay? Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice. Mark