At the end of last year I took down my smelting station. This was a thrown together thing that was simply two retaining wall block on either side of a fireplace grate. I put my big pot (one from D Crocket) on the grate and stoked a fire underneath. This worked fine but after a few years of fires the blocks were cracked and a lot of heat was lost.
Now what im thinking of is digging a trench and forming up a three sided short wall and pouring concrete. I would set 3" angle iron embedded in the walls to support the pot. I'd put plenty of rebar to keep the walls together because I know the heat is going to crack the concrete. I'd cap it with a piece of sheet metal with the pot sticking out the top only about an inch. This would keep heat around the entire pot. I'd cut in a flue pipe to get smoke up above me instead of always in my face.
Another idea is to do something very similar but with a cut off 55 gallon barrel on end with support for the pot inside.
I'm open to other ideas or pictures of smelting set up's would be great!
Thanks guys,
Scott