Basic backyard forge

I got to thinking the other day about how to set up a basic forge and blacksmith shop without spending a ton of money or relying on expensive fuels. Part of it stems from my work in the backyard smelting work I'm doing turning mild steel into high carbon steel and turning black sand into iron, cast iron, or steel. It's part of my fascination with ancient methods of iron & steel production and old Norse weaponry and tools. It all started in 2016 when I read about the Mastermyr Tool chest and saw a reproduction of it at a blacksmithing conference in Salt Lake City.
I started thinking about how to build a simple charcoal forge like they used 1000 years ago, and how a modern-day homesteader could assemble a simple setup with stuff they probably already have around the homestead. This is what I came up with.

The tools I will use from top to bottom are:
A 2-pound sledge. This is a cross peen, but a regular double head will work just fine.
A pair of pliers for when the work piece gets too small to hold with a gloved hand
A 1-1/2 pound ball peen hammer
A small ball peen hammer. The one shown is a hammer head welded to a metal handle. we use this in the shop. It has been heated sufficiently to draw back the hardness so you can hit it with another hammer and not shatter one of them.
A stone chisel
two pieces of scrap steel (will be used for making stuff out of)
The largest sledge hammer I own. This one is 16 pounds.

The forge is going to be made in a shallow depression in the dirt and using some fire bricks as the forge proper (the area where the solid fuels is burned is called the duck nest). You don't have to use fire brick. Regular brick will work fine, although they do break down easier. You can also build the forge out of Cob. I don't have good soil to make cob, but I do have a bunch of fire brick. I will use an old hair dryer as the blower. This one is broken and only has one speed and no on/off switch. The speed is too fast for the forge, so I have rigged up a dimmer switch and a receptacle outlet so I can lower the speed on the hair dryer. The tuyer is a piece of copper pipe I had lying around doing nothing. I have hammered one end into an oblong slot to fit between the two bricks at the bottom of the duck nest.

If there is a way to type a paragraph, imbed a photo, type another paragraph and imbed another photo, so the post appears in the order; words/photo/words/photo, I would love to learn how to do that.

The first two bricks have a space between them for the tuyer (the tube where the blower pushes air into the duck nest). Another two bricks close off the ends.
I forgot to take this pic while building and had to go back out and partially dismantle the forge. That's why there is burned charcoal in the photo.

Stand up a brick on each side and another in front, attach the hairdryer to the tuyer, add a scrap metal sheet to hold the charcoal supply, push dirt around the outside, and you are ready to light the forge. Light a piece of paper on fire and stuff it into the slot at the bottom of the duck nest. Rake some charcoal over the burning paper.

Turn the blower on using the dimmer switch and adjust the speed down until you have a steady air flow. Add the steel you want to forge. For this demonstration, I am forging a piece of rebar into a coat hook.

Using the big sledge hammer as an anvil, I start to forge the rebar to shape. One end is made into a square tapered point and the area behind the point is drawn out and made thinner.

The square taper is then placed with an edge up on the anvil and hammered flat.

Using the ball end of the ball peen hammer, I spread the wider part out more. Then I use the stone chisel to add some veins to the leaf figure. There is a curved area on the big hammer I am using as an anvil. I will put the leaf over this area and use the ball end of the hammer to curve the leaf.

By this point, it was 95 degrees in the shade and working in the direct sun was getting uncomfortable. So, I moved the operation into the shop to finish up. I still kept using the set of tools I laid out and finished the hook. If anyone is interested in seeing the other steps it takes to make this coat hook, I will reduce the photos and post them here. The point of this post was to show how you do not need to purchase or build any expensive tools and equipment to get started forging steel and iron. You can use stuff you probably already have. If you don't know how to make charcoal, look around the forums. There are plenty of post from forumites showing how they make charcoal. I have one around here somewhere. I tried to video this process at the backyard forge and will probably edit the footage and post a link to the video someday.

Thanks for this... I have a propane forge on the way along with tools. I need to find a chunk of steel suitable for an anvil.

After it arrives and I practice I will be building a simple JOBAD forge.

Making your own rocket forge could be the answer to setting up a basic forge without spending alot of money. I was shocked that a what amounts to a wood-burning stove could be fashioned into a forge, but the folks at Wheaton Labs have done it! See it for yourself.

Monica Truong wrote:Making your own rocket forge could be the answer to setting up a basic forge without spending alot of money. I was shocked that a what amounts to a wood-burning stove could be fashioned into a forge, but the folks at Wheaton Labs have done it! See it for yourself.

Nice video. What they are missing is that a blacksmith's forge using solid fuel doesn't work well with a static airflow. You need to be able to increase the airflow during times when you are heating the steel up to forging temp, and reduce it when you are not. This is why traditional forges have a manually operated bellows to push large amounts of air into the firepot and heat the steel quickly. You can see the problem their design causes because they admitted to using a lot of fuel to get any heat. The other source of the problem is they are using raw wood rather than charcoal for fuel. Raw wood does not burn as hot as charcoal. They are spot on when they talk about reducing the air blast into a small area to create a localized hotspot.
This is a solid fuel (coal or charcoal) forge I built using a prefabricated firepot. You can substitute any heavy steel or cast iron dish like a brake drum or brake rotar (both are typically made from cast iron). You would just have to fabricate some sort of piping for the air blast.

I hate throwing things away. But just a couple months ago I tossed two well grooved brake drums into the trash. Never even though of this and now I am kicking myself. I do have a little dirt box forge though. Pretty fun to play with.

Dan Fish wrote:I hate throwing things away. But just a couple months ago I tossed two well grooved brake drums into the trash. Never even though of this and now I am kicking myself. I do have a little dirt box forge though. Pretty fun to play with.

I get a lot of grief from my "corporate officer" about never wanting to throw stuff away. My parents were depression era, so I was raised with that packrat mentality.
A dirt box forge works fine. good insulation to keep the heat where you want it. Post a picture of it.

Joshua States wrote: If anyone is interested in seeing the other steps it takes to make this coat hook, I will reduce the photos and post them here.
. . . I tried to video this process at the backyard forge and will probably edit the footage and post a link to the video someday.

I would be very interested in seeing the photos if you still have them, and in you posting a link to the video.

T Bate wrote:I would be very interested in seeing the photos if you still have them, and in you posting a link to the video.

Unfortunately, I cannot even find the photos I posted above on my computer......and I remember that the battery died while filming the video.