How to Build a Metal Forge

This forge is common amongst wrought iron smiths and farriers in China, where simplicity, budget and function are of a pertinence not always required in the West. It shows in the simplicity and low cost of the design. The buckets used to make this forge are generally available for free. They double as a tool chest with lid. This forge will be sufficient for making knives, hand tools and miniatures, jewelry and small home decor items.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Two clean, 5 gallon, nongalvanized metal paint buckets
• Sharp tin snips or heavy-duty sheet metal shears
• Cold chisel
• File
• Large fireplace bellows with leather hinge and baffle
• Hammer
• 2 to 3 feet of four-by-four, or section of a thick tree branch
• Two fireplace grills cut to fit inside the top bucket's opening

1. Punch a hole 12 inches from the bottom of the first bucket. Insert your tin snips into the hole. Cut all the way around the bucket with snips, to make the bucket about a foot tall. Remove any burrs with a file.

2. Use your cold chisel to punch an "X" into the side of your first bucket and push in on the "X," so that the nozzle of the bellows will fit snugly into the opening.

3. Place the 4-by-4 block of wood between your knees to make a hammering surface. Adjust the size of the opening of the bottom bucket by hammering it into shape, using swaging techniques. Swaging is shaping metal against a hard, bowled or dished surface to make the metal flare outward or curve inward. It is used when making ladles, spoons or other curved metal objects.
   When the bucket opening is resized correctly, the two buckets will fit together like a double boiler. This might require making the opening of the bottom bucket smaller to prevent the top bucket from sliding inside more than 2 inches; or, it might require flaring the opening of the bottom bucket to make it larger.

4. Use your cold chisel to punch an equal pattern of 12 to 18 holes in the bottom of the top bucket. These holes will allow air to pass through the coals from the bottom, giving your fire a hotter, more even burn.

5. Fit the buckets together with your bellows in place. Fill the top bucket with a couple of inches of coal or charcoal and light your forge. When finished forging, douse the coals thoroughly with water and rinse out the two buckets. Carry your tools to your next job site in your forge.

Tips & Warnings

• This article assumes that the reader has at least a semester of metalworking at a local high school or community college, or has spent at least 3 months learning hammering techniques, including "drawing out," which is hammering metal thinner and larger, and "swaging," which is flaring or curving metal inward or outward by hammering against a hard, curved surface. Chinese blacksmiths use this forge to carry their tools to and from the job site, using the cut-off bottom bucket as a lid. The bottom bucket acts as the air chamber during forging. You may opt to cut the top bucket shorter for easier use. The top bucket is the burn container. You may want to replace the bellows with an electric blower, heat gun or blow dryer for ease of operation. To extend the life of your forge, cut two fireplace grills to shape and size to fit inside the top bucket. This will keep the charcoal from making direct contact with the bottom. Place the grills in the top bucket before adding charcoal. Professional blacksmiths often use an oddly-shaped block of metal called a swage block to hammer curved surfaces. Swage blocks have shallow hollows in various common tool and eating utensil shapes, as well as half-pipe curves of varying diameters.
• Do not use galvanized metal for any part of this forge. Galvanized metal can release toxic zinc fumes when heated, which are potentially fatal. Although you may find some who dismiss the danger, zinc fumes can cause metal fever and death. There is a posthumous warning by Jim "Paw Paw" Wilson at Anvilfire.com about the dangers of zinc fume poisoning. Do not forge while indoors without adequate ventilation, or while failing to wear appropriate safety gear. Be careful of any instructions or tutorials that have you violating those safety rules. Wear heavy leather work gloves and wraparound eye protection at all times when cutting, grinding or forging metal. Keep a 5 gallon bucket of water, a 5 gallon bucket of sand or a fully charged ABC chemical foam fire extinguisher handy at all times when forging.

References

• L. Oliver II: Two "Bucks" Crucible
• Posthumous Safety Message: Jim "Paw Paw" Wilson: Metal Fume Fever

Resources

• Shaping Metal: Using a Swaging Block
• Jim "Paw Paw" Wilson: Safety Demonstration 3

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