Blast furnace isn't really a mini-game. It's just unnote coal and mith, dump in furnace, help out on spots if needed, smith, repeat. With current prices, you'll actually make some money too if you make mith bolts. You'll also need to smith less since you get the smelting exp. However, if you really despise blast furnace, you could make iron knives, you'll lose about 300k.