Introduction

This book is designed to be used as a resource for new blacksmiths. The information all lies out there somewhere, scattered across dozens of expensive books and locked away behind terminology and the expectation of expert knowledge that very few beginners posses. This guide is a perfect preparation filled with practical information, but more importantly, all the facts you will need for you to design and create a forge tailored to your specific needs and limitations as a blacksmith in your unique situation. This book will lay the foundation on which you will build your smithy, and forge your own path to a master craftsman!

When thinking of a forge, many imagine grand structures of brick and mortar which take up huge areas of space and look as though they have been standing for hundreds of years. While this is not uncommon to see in many traditional smithies, there are many more practical alternatives for 'backyard blacksmiths'. The truth is, you don't need a dedicated workshop, forges can be made portable so they can be stowed away in the shed when not in use. Many of them can be built from materials that can be obtained for free, sometimes you may even have to spend a few pounds at your local scrapyard. There is room for so much variation and customisation in forges that can be tailored to suit your needs. You'll see knocked about forges selling into the hundreds of pounds, new ones going into the thousands. I cannot stress enough how unnecessary this is, you can build your own for next to nothing that will do the job just as well. If you're going to be a blacksmith, you'd better get used to some improvisation, starting now!

The question that a lot of people forget is "what is a forge?". The forge is generally shrouded in a lot of mysticism for some, but in reality, it's just a hole where a fire goes! A standard forge consists of 3 parts:

The firepot- this is the part where the serious heat and burning occurs

The blower/bellows- the thing that provides the forced air to get up to forging temp

The body- the part where the fuel sits ready to be raked into the firepot

Before you start angle grinding and welding as the montage music drives you onwards, first consider a few things to allow you to tailor the forge to your needs.

The fuel you plan on using

The type of forging you plan on doing

Where the forge will be used or stored

The Effect of Fuel

There are three main types of fuel you can use; charcoal, coal and coke. Charcoal burns very cleanly but very quickly, it requires little air and a lightweight forge, but you will go through it a lot quicker and it stores the least energy per pound of fuel. Coal burns a lot longer but requires more air, it is quite dirty but doesn't require a particularly heavy forge. Coke cleaner than coal, smokes less and burns hotter, but it requires a large air blast and a heavy forge as it will heat up the firepot.

What do you plan on forging?

For almost all forging, the bottom blast forge with a standard firepot is always best. It will heat smaller sections, depending on the size of your firepot and is the most efferent for general forging. For longer items, such as swords, I would still use a normal forge for the main forging as localised heats prevent warpage and give more control. However, when it comes to the heat treatment, you need to heat up the whole blade at once which requires either a gas forge, or a long Japaneese-style forge. These are rather specialist, however, but can still be produced. The key is to fit the size of your firepot to your work. As a beginner, you may not know exactly what you want to forge. A deeper firepot will provide more heat for bulkier items, and a larger one will allow you to heat a larger area at once. However, the bigger the firepot, the more fuel you will be burning!

What's your setup?

I highly doubt that many of you will have a dedicated smithy with a hood and chimney, so this guide is focused on alternatives. Think about portability and space. Where are you going to stow it away? How light does it need to be? Steel will rust, but if a forge sees regular use, this will seldom be an issue, so a forge can be left outside in the elements. However, it may well be an eyesore that needs to be put in storage after a forging session. If this is the case, you should look for a lightweight forge, or heavy castors if you have solid ground. Forges can be very portable, contrary to popular belief. The other consideration is power. If you don't have power where you wish to forge, you will have to use a manual-type blower. Blowers are looked at in this book, while not strictly a 'forge', they need to be considered when designing. With a manual blower, you may wish to keep the firepot small or use easy-burning fuel to reduce fatigue. A manual blower is a false economy though, as good hand-crank blowers are very expensive, electric ones can be easily built. A 12V car battery and charger may be a good investment if you don't currently have access to power.

Types of Forge

In this section, we will be looking at the main types of forge that you are likely to be building as a novice smith. You can build something very elaborate or very simple. Time, money and ease are three recurring tradeoffs you will encounter during your time as a smith. Buying a good forge is expensive, but it will take you a lot of time to create a good one too. You can get by just fine with an adequate forge as simple as a hole in the ground, but you will be sacrificing ease of use as a result!

The Oil Drum Forge

Difficulty: Easy

Recommended Fuels: Charcoal or Coal

Weight: Light

This is by far the easiest forge to build which isn't a hole in the ground! An angle grinder is the best tool for the job, and if you don't have one, it's worth the investment as you'll be using it a lot. If not, this forge can be made with a hacksaw or metal shears. To build this forge, you will want a 55-gallon or similar sized drum, only the base of the drum is important, choose one which you think has a suitable diameter to serve as a forge. Make sure that you know what was in the drum beforehand! If it was a flammable liquid such as petrol, it will still have vapour inside it, no matter how much you try to release it. Avoid these if possible, if you can't, do not attempt to cut with power tools as a spark will set it off. Take the drum and cut evenly 6" from the bottom, on the solid side, not the one with the hole in it! You can throw the majority of the drum away at this point, although I suggest keeping it as an excellent source of sheet steel. You may want to cut an access hole in the side, but I suggest doing this later on. Make a hole in the bottom, just big enough to accept your air pipe which is discussed later. Feed your air pipe through and hammer the end to 'peen' it over, so that it won't drop back out. You may want to weld it in place, or drill it and put some small steel rod though it which will also act as a grate. I suggest you line the forge with clay which will increase it's life and allow you to use coke. This is an excellent starter forge, although it will not last forever. The resulting forge can be rested on anything which will allow the air pipe to dangle underneath. When I made mine, I cut 3 lengths of angle iron and bolted them to the side of the drum to work as legs, making it freestanding! Remember, 3 legs are more stable than 4!

This forge does not have a firepot. This makes it very difficult to build a deep fire for heating big things. To make an effective rudimentary firepot, I mixed some refractory cement using the recipe in the appendix and cast it into brick shapes. I put my two firebricks either side of the air nozzle or 'tuyere' which creates a retaining wall so that the fuel can be piled higher around the area!

The best implementation of this type of forge has been documented on the I Forge Iron forum, I suggest you visit this website [1] which has a photographic guide to producing one of their 55 Forges©.

The Brake Drum Forge

Difficulty: Medium

Recommended Fuels: Any

Weight: Heavy

A brake drum forge is reasonably easy to build as it is virtually already a forge. Get an old brake drum, preferably off a normal vehicle rather than a commercial one as it shouldn't be too big. It'll depend on the configuration of the brake drum as to how you set up the air blast, you may have to plate the bottom with some steel sheet or make your piping fit the existing hole. The brake drum forge is not very portable as it is essentially just a big firepot, so requires a stand. It can't easily be put on legs as cast iron is very hard to drill to bolt legs on, and requires a preheat to weld. Also be very careful with thermal shock, if you cool the forge down too quickly after forging by pouring water on it (which you should never, ever do) it will crack and destroy your forge. If you have a big drum, I suggest lining the forge with clay to get the correct firepot shape which will greatly increase the quality of the fire. If it is a small, firepot sized brake drum, then there is very little else required! These can be supported on a table-like structure to turn them into a more effective forge. When burning coal, the aim is to stack up the fresh, or green, coal around the fire, as it heats up, the sulphur and other impurities burn off so by the time you drag it into the firepot, it burns nice and clean. This process is known as 'coking up' and is how coke is produced. If you're using coke or charcoal, it's still more convenient to have it stacked around the firepot ready to be dragged on.

For a step-by-step tutorial, I suggest you visit this website [2] which has a photographic guide to producing a brake drum forge, however, it will depend greatly on the specific drum you are using, it takes very little imagination to see how one could be converted!

The 'Proper Job' Forge

Difficulty: Hard

Recommended Fuels: Any

Weight: Medium

Now we really are getting professional! This really is the best it gets in terms of non-fixed forges. It is highly recommended that you have a welder for one of these forges. As hard as this forge looks, it's reasonably easy and cheap to manufacture with basic parts. There are many ways to make it depending on what you have. Your first step is to make the table, for this, you could use an existing metal-topped table, or just a frame, or make one from sheet metal and angle iron! The method I stand by is taking 4 lengths of angle iron and welding them to form a suitably sized rectangle or square. You can now simply sit pieces of sheet or plate steel in the angle iron frame to make the table top. You can also weld in support bars to help hold the weight of your firepot. The hood is completely optional, and not really necessary, but will provide more draw and get some of the smoke out of your face! The table is the easy bit, that can be made of any sheet steel, it won't be subject to any serious heat. The real hard bit is the firepot. Now, firepots sell for hundreds of pounds on Anvils.co.uk, made from cast iron, they are basically a deep pot where the fire happens. The deeper the pot, the larger the fire and the less you have to stack. Now, where have we seen a cast iron pot-shaped object before? That's right, a brake drum! Forget spending hundreds of pounds on a 'professional' pot when a brake drum will to exactly the same job! Cut a hole in the table to accept the pot and just drop it in, there is no need for welding or bolting as the rim will hold it in place, but feel free to do so if you want to avoid it turning a bit. Do not paint anything other than the legs, elsewise it will burn off and contaminate your fire and your air. The coal is piled on the table then raked into the firepot when needed, this burns of any impurities before it reaches the forge fire to prevent those impurities getting into your steel.

If, for whatever reason, you don't want to use a brake drum as a firepot, you have options, and this will give you more leeway in the exact size of your firepot so it will suit your forge better. I recommend that firepots are at least 1/4" thick for something which will last you a long time. You will want to mark out the four sides of the pot, the sides tapering down and cut them. This is not easy, a plasma cutter would be ideal, or an oxy-acetylene torch could also do a job, albeit rough. With patience, you could still do this with an angle grinder, or even a hacksaw if you have time to kill! Once cut, you will want to grind a bevel on each joining edge. This is because you will need a very strong weld, and a fairly powerful welder. If you can weld well, a good 'hobbyist' MIG or stick welder will do the job. You may wish to take this to a fabrication firm if you don't mind spending a little to save some time. You will then want to weld a plate on the bottom with a hole to accept your air pipe. The pipe can either come through the hole, or you can drill a grill into the plate and bolt/weld the airpipe to the underside- this is what I currently use.

There is no definitive guide to this design as it depends entirely on how you approach it, the ideas given above should give enough information to design your own variation depending on what you have at hand and what you need from a forge. Alec Steele uses a similar type forge who's video can be seen here[3], where he shows the construction in detail. If you feel you need a step by step guide for this- this choice of forge probably isn't for you- it can be very tough to make!

The Air Blast

Often the most challenging part of building the forge is the air blast, however, it need not be difficult. Before we get onto blowers, let's discuss the piping.

The Air Pipe

The principle is simple, the pipe needs to be a T-section. If you have a single pipe coming into the forge, the ash will drop into your blower and break it, or at least block your air pipe. So the best way to do it is to have the air blowing at a right angle. The pipe going directly down allows the ash to drop to the bottom, this has an end cap for the ash to collect, but not allow air to escape. You can use a ball valve for this which would allow you to control the air blast if you're using an electric blower, but any metal or wood stopper would suffice. To get this T-section, you can either weld pipe together, which is the hard way, or use threaded pipe with a T-joint. See what your local plumbing supply centre can offer, these are readily available parts! Just be certain to use steel or iron pipe. I used aluminium scaffold pipe on my very first forge which lasted surprisingly long before melting through!

To Blow or Bellow?

The blower can be a lot more challenging, but If you have access to electricity in your area of work, it's easy! A simple hairdryer can be mounted and sealed using duct tape which will provide sufficient air for charcoal or coal, and provides a good amount of control. This however, is unprofessional and noisy. Sticking with electric blowers, the cheapest option available is a heater fan from a car, or better, a commercial vehicle. My old blower was a demister fan from a bus that blows 700CFM. You're looking for a blower with a 'snailshell' casing like the one in the diagram, as this provides the best static pressure, a normal fan as you may find on your car radiator is not up to the job, even if they move a lot of air, they have no static pressure, making them useless. These can be powered using a car battery, or better yet, a car battery charger with adjustable settings, employed as a transformer.

Using vehicle blowers is convenient, but due to the voltage are generally noisy and inefficient. The best cheap source of this type of blower (as buying them specifically is very expensive) is to get your hands on an old cooker hood with an extractor. These run off mains voltage, move a lot of air, run quietly and generally have adjustment. I like to keep mine in the hood casing as it prevents the blower picking up dropped coal. It also means that it has a standard size ducting output, which can be adjusted down to your piping size using store-bought adapters and duct tape! Using a standard sized air gate also gives you excellent control over the power of the blast. You can attach a long handle to the air gate so you can control it without having to bend down or move whatsoever!

Unpowered blowers or bellows are more difficult, although there are plenty of designs available. If you can get a good deal on a hand crank blower, get it, they are excellent. Bellows are good, but expensive and difficult to build, and can be very large. There are so many options, water bellows, bicycle hand crank blowers, normal bellows. A quick google search of any of the bellows turns up many videos and guides on how to build them yourself if you don't want to buy them! However, all the step-by-step guides does not mean it is easy, I consider myself a craftsman and wouldn't take on the job of building bellows- the benefits definitely do not outweigh the effort unless you are demonstrating a historical technique.

Appendix- Fire Cement

Fire cement, refractory lining, clay lining, these are all names given to forge linings. Refractory lining is designed for furnaces, so save your money on that, you don't need it. A simple mixture of:

2 parts sand

1 part Portland

1 part clay

1/2 part Perlite

Will provide adequate lining. The quantities don't have to be spot on, and you can really do without the perlite or clay if you have to. This is not much more than a simple cement. Alternatively, you can use purely clay. The idea is to simply insulate the forge to protect it or create a firepot. Simply mix it with as little water as possible, apply, and leave for a few days until dry. The more clay you add, the longer it takes to dry. Once dry, cure it by building the fire up slowly from a purely wood fire, then eventually do a coal one.

Clay can be acquired through kitty litter if necessary. This may sound outrageous, but sometimes it's impossible to find a supplier of clay. Make sure it is 100% clay with no additives. Perlite can be had at garden centres, it's used as an additive for soil, but has excellent insulating properties.

If you have any questions regarding anything in this book, please email me at jsedge1701@gmail.com. I am happy to give advice freely or explain in-depth anything you don't understand in this book.

I hope you find this useful and I wish you welcome to the wonderful world of blacksmithing!

Links

If you are unable to follow the hyperlinks referenced in the text, here are the full URLs you can enter into your web browser at your convenience:

[1] http://tinyurl.com/pml77ox

[2] http://tinyurl.com/7yeeuzu

[3] http://tinyurl.com/oz7tgln

Disclaimer:

Blacksmithing is a dangerous hobby. I do not take responsibility for any injuries or damages inflicted during the manufacturing or use of these forges. Common sense is required, always wear safety glasses or a respirator when required. DO NOT attempt to use a forge inside without a professional hood and chimney. I do not own the rights to any of the designs above, nor am I the owner of any of the websites linked to.