Coke forge and sword!

Step 1: Materials

!!Important lots of heat and fumes given off so out side is a must for this type of forge, when the worked mettle is taken out it will be red-white hot, you will feel the heat from a distance so don’t let it get any where near your or any ones skin or body or it will hurt, a lot!!

Materials

The materials needed for constructing a non-permanent forge depends on the size and shape, this forge was made for the job of forging the blade of my sword, so I will list the materials as if u was replicating this exactly (or kind of).


Forge:
•Building bricks with 2-3 holes, x8
•Solid building bricks (sand stone bricks not as good due to the heat) aprox x40
•Roofing tiles x5
•Breeze block x1
•Slabs x2-3 (depending on size of slabs)
•Hair dryer x2 (similar powers)
•Soft clay about 1kg


Sword (if making)
•Steel to work, suggest part of a small car leaf spring because of the high carbon factor and easy to work size another easy option is a car coil spring cut up. But for testing any steel can be used, a good thing to play with is reinforcing rods as you can make tongs for later use with the forge
•Length of reinforcing rod or other steel rod, 1.5-2 cm diameter and about 23 cm long.
•Steel plate about 4cm x8cm for hand guard, can use a section of leaf spring as I did.
•Wood for handle, 26cm x20cm and 1.5cm in thickness, suggest a hard wood because it makes turning a smooth finish easier.
•Bolt aprox 2.5-4cm brass or steel depending on preference.
•Washer, fancy as it will be on the hilt or but plane is fine.

Tools needed

Forge
•Making the forge
oHammer
oBrick chisel

•Working the forge
oBucket of water incase something happens (note tern off power to the hear dryers first, sounds silly but funny things happen when you panic).
oWater but for quenching, if you need to make hard brittle items.
oHeat proof gloves that reach up the arm.
oTongs, I found mole grips very useful but longer reach tongs may be found safer for retrieving smaller items from the forge.
oA solid lump of flat cast steel or iron. I used the back part pf a vice sat on a wall, this is far from ideal (just look at picture..).
oSelection of hammers with different heads and weights, tack up to club.

Sword

•Bench vice, on a bench this time.
•Lathe for turning handle, not a must but quicker than trying to plan it.
•Rounded chisel.
•Angel grinder for first sharpening and fine tuning.
•Bench water-stone, not a must but gives a better edge.
•Drill with sander attachment and a buffer attachment.
•Hacksaw .
•Tap and die set.

Comments

[thebomb745]

can i use aluminum instead of steel... i have a small fire pit and idont think it can get that hot

[curvy77]

you could although not the best idea. because steel is both stronger and easier to work with if broken. aluminum dosent break but shatters.

[sthealthraider]

Hello! can i use rebar?? thats i think the easyst thing i can get

[thedog458]

wat Material did you use for the sword

[jerkosaurus]

whats the most common thing laying around thats still good for an anvil? p.s. im a blacksmith and havent been to the shop for a while thanks for the useful homebrew forge

[Basta]

Try a piece of railroad track if you can find one. It's the right shape and the right kind of steel.

[thoraxe]

Well, on anvilfire.com they say that railroad track actually makes a bad anvil for heavy work. They say its too springy. But, if you turn it so all the top is facing the base, it makes it so you have a really resilient anvil, but you just have a small smithing face (bad for bladesmithing)

[Basta]

Really? I have a friend who uses railroad track and I haven't gotten any complaints from him--I assume he's not doing very heavy stuff, not many of us are. For a small blade I don't think a piece of track could do too badly; it may not be ideal but it will work. If you're making swords, though, do yourself a favor and get an actual anvil.

[thoraxe]

oh, and the sides are also curved on the track

[jerkosaurus]

sweet thanks where might i get a piece railroad track?

[thoraxe]

you can get them from railroad tracks, stations, and maybe scrap yards.

[makeshiftninja]

and how mutch would sed materials cost?

[zanic]

if you buy everything new then a lot most of the things he says here you can get for free if you have a land fill or old construction site anywhere by your house a steel support beam make a good anvil I'm not sure where you can get the coal for individual sale i buy 2 ton at a time

[BARBARIANROCKER]

I prefer 12by12 I beams myself. Your choice.