Construction of a Basic Forge for Blacksmithing, Bladesmithing & Smelting This very basic forge was made using

only parts that happened to be in my garage or basement as well as basic tools.

Materials Needed: One large Ceramic Planter with the base

One Stainless steel grill

Light metal tubing

Some plastic yogurt or margarine containers with lids

A blower-style computer fan

A small amount of clay And of course, Duct tape

Tools Needed: A Cordless Drill & Drill bits Metal File kit

Knife

The Construction Process: 1. Make sure the base will fit snugly in the bottom of the planter leaving some space under it. Drill holes into the base of the ceramic planter so air will be able to pass through (But not so many that it becomes easily breakable)

2. Drill a hole in the bottom of the planter underneath where the base will sit, if needed expand the hole so it is wide enough for the metal tube to fit into it.

3. You can make a fan assembly like I have done here with the computer fan and the plastic containers, or you can use a hairdryer or go out and buy a squirrel cage fan if you feel inclined, but I would save the purchasing for the next forge tutorial when Ill be building one that isnt entirely from salvage! To make my fan assembly I cut a hole in the bottom of the first plastic container, and duct taped the large metal tube into place, making it as air tight as possible. Youll notice in the picture showing the inside of the plastic container, I used a pipe with a square piece weilded onto the end of it, so it would be a bit more sturdy. This isnt 100%

nessescary but does ad a bit more strenghth and one could always just use extra duct tape.

4. Cut a hole in the lid of the wider container large enough for the thiner one to almost fit through.

5. Ensure the lid of the wider container has a large enough hole for the smaller one to almost fit through, so that the smaller container has a ring around it which fits snugly right at its top. This (and some more duct tape will connect the smaller and larger containers later). Make sure the lip of the larger containers lid is facing outward so it will be able to connect with the larger container.

6. Cut a hole in the bottom of the smaller container for the fan (or blow dryer) to fit into and duct tape it into place, again making it as air-tight as possible

7. Once the fan is securely duct taped into place, we will put the two containers together and again duct tape the whole assembly to make it as air-tight as possible

8. Connect the larger white metal pipe with the smaller silver one which is part way into the ceramic planter (you dont need to use 2 separate pipes, one will work just as well, just make sure to put enough length between the ceramic pot and the plastic as possible! A few feet should do just fine and you can always use a wet cloth to cool the pipe if it starts to get too hot). I recommend using a bit of clay to seal the pipes together if you use two as well as a bit both hold the silver pipe into the planter and seal it up nice and tight. Make sure the pipe is sticking a bit into the ceramic pot and idealy put a bit of clay around the pipe to seal it on the inside as well as the outside.

9. Now put the ceramic base with the holes drilled into it over top of the pipe. Prior to using the forge, I would put wood charcole or coarecole BBQ briquettes ontop of the ceramic base, get them burning at a good tempreture with the help of the fan blowing air into the glowing coals

and just wait until it got to the tempreture required for whatever metal I would be working on.

10. If you are using a hairdryer you simply need to plug it in, however if you are using a computer fan you will need to plug it into either a PC powersource or an AC to moxlex adapter, or wire it up to any 12v adapter you are willing to sacrifice.
1 - AC to Molex Adapter 2 - 12V Adapter

11. Here is how I wired mine up, I had to do a strip the wires of the fan and of a molex connector so as to be able to plug the fan into the AC to Molex adapter. However dont be discouraged if you dont have a lot of computer parts and connectors and adapters laying around, as I said the same thing can be achieved by stripping the wires of a 12v adapter and connecting them directly to the fan (Just make sure the Adapter has at least the same Amperage as the fan uses and that you wire positive to positive and negative to negative or the fan will run backwards!)
3&4 -Fan wired to molex connector

5 Molex connecter plugs into adapter

12. Lastly I used the stainless steel grate in one of two ways depending if I wanted to do some forging or smelting. The setup in pictures 5 & 6 is for smelting, although a crucible (melting pot) would likely have a pouring spout and handles or some other feature to make lifting and maneuvering it as easy as possible, which is important when transporting liquid metal! Pictures 7 & 8 depict a forging or blacksmithing setup in which the Stainless steel grate holds the project (In this case a number of thin strips of steel ready to be forge welded together) In many cases such as if I were to actually be forging steel- I would not actually be resting the strips on the steel grate in order to get them to the glowing hot temp needed to forge them, in such cases I would either omit the steel grate or use it to rest either the tool being used to hold it or the rebar handle I would have welded to it as is shown in picture 10, this technique is often used in blacksmithing and bladesmithing.
6&7 Smelting setup

8 - Forging setup (first option)

9 - Stack of Steel Stips to be Forge-welded

10 - Handle welded onto project for maneuverability

So there you have it! A forge & smelter made from nothing but household items and for little to no cost! I Hope that everyone who reads this will be inspired to give this rewarding skill/hobby a try, It doesnt have to cost an arm and a leg to get into! However if you do decide to give metal working a try there are a few basic tools and pieces of equipment you really shouldnt go without. The first is wielding gloves as shown on one of my hands in picture 9. I would also recommend some sort of eye protection and a welders smock just in case. As for the basic toolkit one can dive into this hobby with little more than a home made forge, safety equipment, a home made anvil tutorials coming soon- and a few basic tools, I recommend the following: -A 2 sided hammer one with a large flat face and the other a wedge -A wire brush -A set of metal files (make sure you get the files witch have groves only going one way not crossing --Over each other if you are going to use them on metal) -A few clamps of various sizes -A welding kit or a heavy gauge soldering kit or torch -Borax and a wooden spoon (sounds crazy but its essential for forge welding) -Tongs & Pliers -An Al (Hole punching screwdriver)