magnet
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You will get a glimpse of my homemade air bypass valve which allows good control of the blast from a single speed blower.
£20 eh?
If I were you I would get a load of ash (or mud with a skin of ash over the top) and cover the entire bottom of the hearth with it until it reaches up to the bottom of the tuyere hole. Also build up the layer so it rises up towards the back of the hearth (the blower breast plate end I mean) and sculpt it up around the tuyere so it's level with top of the tuyere, and also sculpt it upwards towards the front of the hearth. It'll protect the bottom of your hearth and raise the fire up to a useable height. I have attached 2 images to help explain this, one is from an old text book, the other was drawn by John Bellamy who operates on the I Forge Iron page as JohnB - he's teaches forge work in Cornwall I believe.
Side blast forges often have cut outs at the side so long bars can be passed through allowing them to be heated in the middle, it's hard to tell the depth of your forge but the sides look pretty shallow in depth so you may be able to build up the ash to level with the sides & not need cut outs.
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