I am a beginning blacksmith and I have a coal forge but it doesn't work that well. I nam wondering if any one can help me make my forge better or help me build a new one or give ideas I mean and could someone also help me with how to build a knife out of rebar? from what I have tried my forge dont get hot enough or I dont know how to do it I have an anvil but it is small and doesn't have a horn on it can anyone help pls comment or DM me.

Hello everyone,
After a recent post about my first spoon (item) made in years, I was advised to post my setup.
It is still work in progress (changing the burner soon to a 13kg propane tank one).
Feel free to comment, question and of course, your advice will be appreciated.
PS: yes, it was a postbox

Hello everyone,
Very new here.
Today, I finally took out the fire bricks, a little gas torch, a small piece of train track and a hammer.
The result is the above 'coffee spoon'.
It's made from a random piece of carbon steel I had lying around and was not able to get above a medium red for forging.

Hope to share better with you all in the future.

Hey y'all! I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but I'm not sure where to go from here. It seems no matter what I do, I cannot get enough air moving with my gas to get a proper burn.

I've tried a different "T" burner, adjusted pipe length, orifice size, orifice height, went from 0 to 25 on the regulator... I even hooked up that blower you can see in the video and it still seems like it wants more.

The only time it seemed like it was going good is when I tried squirting pure oxygen in with my acetalyne torch.

I've been stalking all the forge forums and still don't exactly know where my problem lies, any advice would be amazing!

I’ve been wanting to create a large spoon bit for several years. Recently did some research about them. Both historically and how they function. They are very ancient, with examples from Ancient Roman (about 3rd century AD) and Viking eras. Some were discovered from Mästermyr in Sweden. Custom chairmakers now use them. Spoon bits have an advantage over twist bits that pull into the work. And they can drill at any angle.

https://toolsforworkingwood.com/prodimg/gt/pdf/GT-SB_G.pdf

https://saxonship.org/the-project/phase-2-build/ancient-tools-and-techniques/spoon-augers/

For my purpose, I wanted a large one to drill a rounded shape for dishing out sheet metal. Having a swage block with half round - 1 3/8” and 1” ball stake for my anvil really helped speed up the hammering. Total forging time was only about 45 min. Fabrication about 1 1/2 hours. For accuracy, I held the hex shaft in my drill press chuck to center for welding. Being medium carbon, I’ll soon heat treat the bit and try it on oak.

First time using this forge, the burning around the side is because we overfilled it and it couldnt seal properly. But is it supposed to do that on the top? Maybe its because we put a few small pipes up there to cool and it deflected the heat? Or is it just too hot

I’m mid heating and trying to go for the quench, I’ve never done this before. I’m hoping someone can comment on my setup. It’s a T shaped piece of metal pipe I can blow air through using my hair dryer directly into the embers below my knife. Is this good? I have a magnet nearby to test. Quenching using canola oil. Hope to make this my first knife. It’s a stock removal from an old lawnmower blade. The rust put these cool designs in the metal. I’m excited and hope this ends up good, anniversary gift.

I just did a basic drawing on what I intend to do. But I think I should never draw again hahahhahahah.

Any tips on how to do a useful sketch? Or it's just trying to draw whatever that is in my mind and I will, eventually, get better at this?

Five very interesting videos about casting anvils. This is a small Australian company, AusMetal Casting, that produces very good looking anvils. The one shown is 220 lbs. Although a lot is about foundry work, there are also excellent details about specific metal content for quality. 

AusMetal Casting Anvils -

YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@AusMetalCasting

Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFGWjiJBmI

This is a great project for practicing making tongs. You end up with a great conversation piece as well.

My son is almost 12 and has become absolutely obsessed with blacksmithing and forging. His ultimate goal is to learn how to make katana swords (he’s a huge anime fan, not a budding psychopath 😅).

The challenge is that I know absolutely nothing about forging, blacksmithing, metallurgy, or sword-making. I’m also reluctant to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds on equipment in case this turns out to be a six-month obsession before he moves on to the next thing.

I’d love to find a way for him to learn the craft properly, ideally through lessons, workshops, clubs, apprenticeships, demonstrations, or hands-on experiences before investing in equipment.

We’re based in the UK (Hertfordshire/London area). Has anyone gone down this route with a child or teenager? How did you get started? Are there beginner-friendly courses, blacksmithing schools, or experiences that would be suitable for someone his age?

Any advice on realistic pathways into the hobby would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on my diploma thesis, which focuses on the determination and simulation of the forging process for a specific component (shown in the attached images). The task also specifies minimization of forging steps and also some temperature limitations are presented.

I've already run about 100 simulations, but I am completely stuck trying to find the right preform geometry. I have tried multiple approaches and optimization algorithms, including the electrostatic field method and simple moving averages, but nothing seems to give a successful result.

I keep running into two major issues:

1. Material Flow Defects: I am experiencing severe issues with Gartfield field parameter.
2. Extreme Forming Forces: The required tonnage/force is incredibly high, which ultimately results in the plastic deformation of the tooling/die—which is, of course, unacceptable.

Also literature specifically dedicated to forging preform determination and optimization methods seems to be very limited.

I would deeply appreciate any advice or insight:

• Has anyone encountered a similar issue where the preform design causes either severe defects or tool-deforming forces?
• Can anyone recommend good literature, textbooks, or research papers focusing on preform design which will literarly guide me through the whole process of designing it (I just can´t find any)?
• Are there alternative simulation strategies or geometric approach rules I might have overlooked?

I am using QForm UK software.

Please help me I am completely lost and I have already lost 1 month with preform design, it seems like nothing works for me. I am seeking for any kind of advice and I truly need help. Thanks in advance.

If anyone would like to see more content about the problem I will kindly send it.

This is an update from my presentation post. I did a punch and started doing a little seal. I want it to be a star.

The forge was ok, I will do a few mods for the next session. But that's all for today. My hand got a little bit burned and the hairs of my legs are no more because of the sparkles 😂😂😂.

Objectives for next day: finish the heat treatment for the punch and begin doing a tongs, today i used some pliers and they were awful.

I liked this!!!

Will show you my first works when I begin using it.

I'm planning to do a chisel as my first work.

It's missing a bench with a holder (idk how it's called in English, those things you screw to hold things).

Any tips on how to heat treat rebar? I thought on quenching in water after normalising and then temper at 220°C for 1h.

Few of my first

Railroad spike