Heat Metal to work iron without a forge?

[Blood of Gaea]

Eh, given the existence of Fabricate, I don't really see a problem with allowing the use of heat metal and perhaps other spells to aid with crafting. Especially since Heat Metal would mostly only cut down on fuel consumption. I mean, you'd still have to do the work part of forging by swinging a hammer.

Perhaps some enterprising caster could conduct some research based on heat metal specifically to replace the forge when forging.

Yes, they have plenty of spells that could help, I just don't consider Heat Metal to be one of them.

And yes, I would absolutely allow some kind of pursuit after a more specialized spell.