My youngest son has leaned pretty hard into the monster hunting and cooking aspect, so we got the Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting.  Which is a great source of info and mechanics.  But, I'm looking for others who I can bounce ideas off of to incorporate into the games as a subtle rule set.  I've worked out the kinks when it comes to the cooking aspect.  It really is pretty straight forward to do with and without the chef's utensils. But, when it comes to forging, I'm trying to work out a detail that I feel others have already solved.

How can you make a piece of armor/weapon for 13+ hours when you are at camp or between missions if you don't have a forge?  I mean, if you have a cart, then why not have an inventory item of a pocket forge or something?  Something you can put in place, enlarge to a usable size, then put away when you are done and not be encumbered by hauling around a 100# anvil, bellows, etc.  
Or a blacksmith's shop as a pocket dimension along with your smith's tools?

How have you gotten around this restriction? 

Easiest would be to say you don’t need a forge. The weird magical properties inherent in the bits of scale or whatever are able to take the right shape as long as you know what you’re doing (some kind of skill check).

Or maybe you only need a forge at the very end. You can do all the prep work out on the road, but the last hour or three needs to be at an actual forge. This can help as a backdoor check on how quickly they get the items. And it also presents the players with a meaningful choice: stay on the road hunting and maybe get more stuff, or take what they have and make it usable.

Thanks for the input.  I'm working on how my forge blessing cleric can break down, modify and return equipment to the party members.  This might work.  I'll see what the DM thinks about it and report back.  He's out of town for the next 2 weeks so we've got some time to mash out the details and give him a solution.