No, Dante is not forging popcorn! What you are seeing here is an innovative new gas powered ceramic chip table forge that Waterside has imported from Germany. We strongly suspect this is the first unit of this kind brought into Australia. The forge table is said to provide a quick and clean method for forging without the restrictions associated with the confines of traditional kiln style gas forges. The four walls and roof of traditional kilns struggle with metal sculptures of odd geometries and it is hoped that table will allow such pieces to be forged without the need to spark up a coke fire. This unit has three gas burners that are buried below a pile of round/hemispherical ceramic chips (approx 12mm diameter). Upon ignition, the chips heat quickly to a glowing red/blue colour and steel pieces are simply inserted into the pile until forging temperature is reached. Last night, for its first trial run, we threw a rail spike into the chips and within a few minutes it had reached forging temperature. We will be testing this unit out over the next few months and will keep you all posted on the results.