During extreme operations that might not be too much of a construction of fancy. More often than not, my experience is a small controlled flame and a cherry red blob being coaxed into a pleasing and practical shape. It is a relaxing and rewarding - although often dirty - experience that yields a large gain with little expenditure.
Ready to get started?
Metallurgy is an incredibly precise applied science, and forging is intimately tied to it. The process deals with the microscopic effects of physical and chemical properties of the metal and the flame. The good news is you don't need to completely understand it to benefit from it.
The act of heating and physically refining the grain structure of a piece of metal can be achieved with little experience or knowledge, but a basic comprehension is worth the extra effort.
All you really need to start a small forge is fire, an air source, something to hit with, something to bang on, and something to forge. Most of my work is to make tooling for other projects, useful implements, or decorative items. Because of the small scale, the required elements can be gathered easily enough.
Fire and Air.
I run a charcoal/wood forge for my small jobs.
This little guy is as basic as it comes. It has everything you might need in a small forge. There is welding involved in the design, but that isn't required.
Basically you need something to hold the hot embers on top of a tube that feeds from the air source below.
Mine is a mitered piece of angle iron welded along the edges fitted into some "black iron" gas pipe. What i started with was even simpler. My first micro-forge was just a cast iron pan with holes drilled in the bottom. That sits on top of a "T" created by cobbling together pre-threaded pipe pieces from the hardware store.
The whole rig is pretty simple. To build one here's what you'll need:
1 - Cast Iron Pan
2 - Flange
2 - Threaded Nipple (any legnth)
1 - T Coupling
1 - CPU Fan
1 - 9V to 12V AC Adapter
That's pretty much it. The design can be made as complicated as you wish, but this is the most basic configuration. If you're handy enough you can source the bits from available obtanium. The pipe fitting is the simplest bit. Just assemble as pictured. Drill a few 1/4" holes in the pan, or whatever heavyweight receptacle you sourced, making sure to keep them in the center above the opening in the flange.
The CPU fan is the only technical bit. I have them laying around from various salvage operations, but they can be purchased anywhere that sells techy stuffs. Get one that has a two wire set up. They run off a 12 volt power supply, but stepping down to a 9 volt won't harm it. It'll just run a bit slower. The ac adapter can also be purchased, but any old adapter would do. I have those all about as well, phone chargers, computer accessory power suppliers, whatever you got. Strip the wires, twist the matching colors together, wrap up each of the pairs with electrical tape, and wrap both bundles together. I mounted my first one to the end of the rig with copper wire, but anything will work. As a general caution, the pipe doesn't get extremely hot, but the shorter the pipe nipple you use, the closer the fan is to the flame. Might make it at least a 3" piece just to be sure. My first rig was 1/2" pipe. I'd advise 3/4" or 1", both to make the set up more stable and for improved air flow.
Heavy Metal
Just as it implies, you need a decent sized piece of something hard for an anvil. You also need something as hard to hit stuff with. For this small of a set up any old roofing or ball peen hammer will do. I used my trusty four pound cross peen hammer, but it is overkill when making chisels out of 1/4" spring steel. The anvil should be a pretty hard piece of steel. I started with a 25 lb. steel dumbell. Dig around, there is a lot of wiggle room on this. More often than not I use a railroad spike driven into a four by four.
Is it just me, or does my stump look happy to see you?
A side note on railroad scrap. Picking it up off the tracks is against the law, even if abandoned in the rocks. There are sources to get it legally as there are salvage companies licensed to retrieve and sell scrap stock. I have a 2.5' piece of track that was a task to obtain, but I love it. You can also buy small anvils from craft and jewelry stores, but stay away from anything cast. The surface is rarely even enough to be usable. One method is to mount one hammer in a vise for the anvil, and use another to do your striking.
Project Material
This is where the scrappers and hoarders go nuts. Depending on what you want to make you can use all manner of metal scrap to make stuff. Nails, files, old knifes, springs, saw blades, I'll use anything. I would caution against using galvanized steel. it can be done but the zinc burnt off in the forge can mess you up. The fumes are noxious and in heavy enough doses cause a flu like state that is a booger to shake off.
Identifying scrap steel is an art unto itself, but I'm not too particular. Most of my carving tools are made of either carbon steel or spring steel. The carbon in these materials can be hardened to improve edge holding. I'm not going into steel composition and testing in this post, just note if you are making a blade you need something that will harden. My most recent carvers are made from one of three sources. For flat stock I collect old sawzall reciprocating saw blades (L6 Steel), cut nails (.80-.90 carbon steel), and spring steel (all kinds of alloys).
Practical Magic
As we get into individual projects I'll get into greater detail on hardening steel. If you can't wait, here is a good write up from Tidewater Blacksmiths. This is the darkest art of this dark art. The basic idea is to get the steel to a certain heat, critical temp, and flash cool it. This process locks the carbon crystals that are forming in the steel in their hardest state. This is really only needed for blade making. Decorative stuff is fine in the metal's natural state. It sounds complicated, but you heat the metal to a bright orange heat and plunge it into oil. You can re-purpose motor oil, or cooking oil, or whatever you have around.
Once hardened the blade is very brittle. A properly hardened piece of steel will shatter if struck by a hammer. To relax the metal to a tempered state moderate heat is applied taking away some of the hardness and increasing the toughness and durability. Most of my carving tools are hardened then thrown in an oven at 450* - 500* for an hour. There is a lot of info out there on this, so go consume as much as you feel you need.
No Excuses
It is really a simple hobby. You get to play with fire, and make cool looking sharp stuff. Why aren't you already doing this. You know you have wanted to since you were a kid. I have a few projects documented already, and there are more in progress. I have a few project ideas posted on my Pintrest if you just need to get start immediately. In the mean time, if there is anything you want help making or have any project ideas drop a comment or email me crescentson at gmail dot com. I'm glad to help any way I can.
Speaking of no excuses, I need to get some writing done today. I hope this is a decent start for you guys. If not, stay tuned. There is always more to come. Now, go create something.
Ready to get started?
Metallurgy is an incredibly precise applied science, and forging is intimately tied to it. The process deals with the microscopic effects of physical and chemical properties of the metal and the flame. The good news is you don't need to completely understand it to benefit from it.
The act of heating and physically refining the grain structure of a piece of metal can be achieved with little experience or knowledge, but a basic comprehension is worth the extra effort.
All you really need to start a small forge is fire, an air source, something to hit with, something to bang on, and something to forge. Most of my work is to make tooling for other projects, useful implements, or decorative items. Because of the small scale, the required elements can be gathered easily enough.
Fire and Air.
I run a charcoal/wood forge for my small jobs.
Basically you need something to hold the hot embers on top of a tube that feeds from the air source below.
Mine is a mitered piece of angle iron welded along the edges fitted into some "black iron" gas pipe. What i started with was even simpler. My first micro-forge was just a cast iron pan with holes drilled in the bottom. That sits on top of a "T" created by cobbling together pre-threaded pipe pieces from the hardware store.
The whole rig is pretty simple. To build one here's what you'll need:1 - Cast Iron Pan
2 - Flange
2 - Threaded Nipple (any legnth)
1 - T Coupling
1 - CPU Fan
1 - 9V to 12V AC Adapter
That's pretty much it. The design can be made as complicated as you wish, but this is the most basic configuration. If you're handy enough you can source the bits from available obtanium. The pipe fitting is the simplest bit. Just assemble as pictured. Drill a few 1/4" holes in the pan, or whatever heavyweight receptacle you sourced, making sure to keep them in the center above the opening in the flange.
The CPU fan is the only technical bit. I have them laying around from various salvage operations, but they can be purchased anywhere that sells techy stuffs. Get one that has a two wire set up. They run off a 12 volt power supply, but stepping down to a 9 volt won't harm it. It'll just run a bit slower. The ac adapter can also be purchased, but any old adapter would do. I have those all about as well, phone chargers, computer accessory power suppliers, whatever you got. Strip the wires, twist the matching colors together, wrap up each of the pairs with electrical tape, and wrap both bundles together. I mounted my first one to the end of the rig with copper wire, but anything will work. As a general caution, the pipe doesn't get extremely hot, but the shorter the pipe nipple you use, the closer the fan is to the flame. Might make it at least a 3" piece just to be sure. My first rig was 1/2" pipe. I'd advise 3/4" or 1", both to make the set up more stable and for improved air flow.
Heavy Metal
Just as it implies, you need a decent sized piece of something hard for an anvil. You also need something as hard to hit stuff with. For this small of a set up any old roofing or ball peen hammer will do. I used my trusty four pound cross peen hammer, but it is overkill when making chisels out of 1/4" spring steel. The anvil should be a pretty hard piece of steel. I started with a 25 lb. steel dumbell. Dig around, there is a lot of wiggle room on this. More often than not I use a railroad spike driven into a four by four.Is it just me, or does my stump look happy to see you?
A side note on railroad scrap. Picking it up off the tracks is against the law, even if abandoned in the rocks. There are sources to get it legally as there are salvage companies licensed to retrieve and sell scrap stock. I have a 2.5' piece of track that was a task to obtain, but I love it. You can also buy small anvils from craft and jewelry stores, but stay away from anything cast. The surface is rarely even enough to be usable. One method is to mount one hammer in a vise for the anvil, and use another to do your striking.
Project Material
This is where the scrappers and hoarders go nuts. Depending on what you want to make you can use all manner of metal scrap to make stuff. Nails, files, old knifes, springs, saw blades, I'll use anything. I would caution against using galvanized steel. it can be done but the zinc burnt off in the forge can mess you up. The fumes are noxious and in heavy enough doses cause a flu like state that is a booger to shake off.
Identifying scrap steel is an art unto itself, but I'm not too particular. Most of my carving tools are made of either carbon steel or spring steel. The carbon in these materials can be hardened to improve edge holding. I'm not going into steel composition and testing in this post, just note if you are making a blade you need something that will harden. My most recent carvers are made from one of three sources. For flat stock I collect old sawzall reciprocating saw blades (L6 Steel), cut nails (.80-.90 carbon steel), and spring steel (all kinds of alloys).
Practical Magic
As we get into individual projects I'll get into greater detail on hardening steel. If you can't wait, here is a good write up from Tidewater Blacksmiths. This is the darkest art of this dark art. The basic idea is to get the steel to a certain heat, critical temp, and flash cool it. This process locks the carbon crystals that are forming in the steel in their hardest state. This is really only needed for blade making. Decorative stuff is fine in the metal's natural state. It sounds complicated, but you heat the metal to a bright orange heat and plunge it into oil. You can re-purpose motor oil, or cooking oil, or whatever you have around.Once hardened the blade is very brittle. A properly hardened piece of steel will shatter if struck by a hammer. To relax the metal to a tempered state moderate heat is applied taking away some of the hardness and increasing the toughness and durability. Most of my carving tools are hardened then thrown in an oven at 450* - 500* for an hour. There is a lot of info out there on this, so go consume as much as you feel you need.
No Excuses
It is really a simple hobby. You get to play with fire, and make cool looking sharp stuff. Why aren't you already doing this. You know you have wanted to since you were a kid. I have a few projects documented already, and there are more in progress. I have a few project ideas posted on my Pintrest if you just need to get start immediately. In the mean time, if there is anything you want help making or have any project ideas drop a comment or email me crescentson at gmail dot com. I'm glad to help any way I can.
Speaking of no excuses, I need to get some writing done today. I hope this is a decent start for you guys. If not, stay tuned. There is always more to come. Now, go create something.
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