Building your Coal Forge

You will need:

Some sort of heavy duty steel drum that will be your firepot. NOT GALVANIZED
A length of pipe to connect to the blower. NOT GALVANIZED
A adjustable blower or some bellows. If you have no adjustment for your blower, use a butterfly valve in your pipe to limit the airflow.
A fuel source, in this case, coal. (If you can find a supplier, use lump coal or charcoal, not the pressed charcoal briquettes.)

You don't want to use galvanized steel of any type, because when it gets up to forging temperatures, it emits a toxic gas that will happily remove your life.

You can use an old brake drum for your firepot, and drill a hole in it to fit the length of pipe.
Secure the drum onto a wooden frame using bolts, make sure it is very secure. If it falls apart when you arw working, 2500 degree coals all over your feet is not a good idea.
The pipe should fit snugly in the drum, and should extend about 1/2" into the firepot.
Connect the blower to the other end of the pipe in a way where you can easily adjust the amount of airflow.
Put a goodly amount of coal into your forge, enough to have a dome shape on top, and light it how you would light a fire, or however you usually do it.
when the coals are going, turn on the blower and adjust the flow rate so that the flames exiting the coal pile are about 2 inches high. After a few minutes, the forge is hot enough to use.

Finding and choosing an Anvil.

 Anvil worthy metal is hard, but elastic. It needs to compress little and bounce back well, all while not cracking or shattering. A good test for determining whether the block of metal could be used as an anvil can be done with a 1" hardened ball bearing. If you drop the bearing from a 1 foot height, it should bounce back up almost to the level which you dropped it. The anvil should also ring pleasantly, almost like a bell, when you strike it.

Finding an anvil can be difficult and time consuming, and if you will only be doing a small amount of smithing, buying an anvil is not a necessity. As long as you have a block of metal that you can pound metal on, you will be fine.

Anything that you use for an anvil needs to be big and well secured to a stand, the heavier, the better. The more inertia that the anvil has, the more the hammer will rebound and the easier time you will have working the metal. A common substitute for an anvil is a section of railroad track. The metal is beaten and hardened from years, sometimes a hundred or more, of supporting train cars. The train tracks can be bought from any metal supply store, or if they are doing maintenance on a railroad near you, you may be able to score a deal with one of the guys.

If needed, you can buy a cube or rectangle of steel from a steel mill or steel supply depot to use as an anvil. You really can use anything, just as long as it is the proper type of metal.

Building your gas forge

You can make your forge our of a length of pipe or an empty propane tank, you will need:

One propane tank, more if you want a longer forge.

Refractory cement or refractory bricks.

A fuel source, I recommend a portable propane tank, so you can move the forge around your shop.

A gas line to run from your tank to your forge.

A gas burner to run the propane into your forge.

A pressure gauge to adjust how much propane goes into your forge.

Empty however many propane tanks you have fully, making sure that EVERYTHING is out of there, because once you start cutting the ends off, it could combust and injure you. 

Cut the propane tanks so that the circular space that is left is the size that you want. It should be big enough so that you can maneuver the piece in the forge, but the smaller it is, the less gas you need to use to get it hot. Both ends should be open, but one should have a door that can be close so less heat is lost when working with smaller pieces. Cut another hole halfway through the tank which the burner will go through

When both ends are cut to your specifications, fill the tank with at least an inch and a half thick layer of the refractory cement, with a inner layer that is big enough to accommodate the biggest piece that you will be working with and still have an inch or two to spare. you can use a cardboard tube with the same outer diameter as you want your forges inner diameter to be. TO aid the removal of the tube, line the outside with paper, or waxed paper, it will be easy to remove and the paper will burn away soon after lighting the forge for the first time.

put the burner in the hole in the forge, and secure it with a welder or some bolts. Bolts are better because if something goes wrong with the burner or you need to replace it, you can easily remove it by taking out the bolts.

When yo first light the forge, it will burn fairly cool until all the water has evaporated, then it will heat up to forging temperatures. when the water has evaporated, turn off the heat and inspect for cracks in the cement, filling in those that appear.

Make the base for your forge, then pour some cement or place a firebrick in the bottom to for a flat base that the metal will rest on.

Viola! you now have a functioning forge which will send you on your way to becoming a blacksmith!

Pros and Cons of Gas and Coal

You have two main options for your forge, coal fired and gas fired. Coal fired forges tend to be a little more labor intensive in maintaining the fire quality and heat, instead of having the easily controllable fire of the gas forge. However, you have added versatility in regards to fine control of the heat and fire size.

Gas and coal are your two main options. If you are willing to spend a little more time keeping the fire clean and hot, and will be using the forge for long periods of time, the coal forge is the better choice. If you want ease of use and may only be using the forge for short periods of time, and only intermittently, then a gas forge is a better choice.

You can either build or buy a gas forge, if you build one, it will cost you about $200, or $150 if you are thrifty. Buying a forge could be the better choice, if you have little mechanical skills or no access to a grinder/plasma cutter or a welder, you may be better off spending the $300-450 needed to buy one pre-made. Gas forges are easy to light and maintain, they just need a bit of adjustment to prevent undue scale formation on the metal. Gas forges are also generally burn cleaner burning than coal, and the fuel is much more readily available. If you want ease of use, and aren't interested in tweaking everything that can be tweaked to get the hottest fire possible, than you will do well with a gas forge.

Finding a pre-made coal forge is more difficult, because of the added size and bulkier construction. You will likely need to build your own from scratch. If you build your own, though, you have very fine control over how big you want it, how you want it to look, and what material you make it out of. Building a coal forge can cost anywhere from $50 to $2000, depending on the size and materials. Coal forges are often bigger and more expensive than gas forges, and the fuel is often hard to find, and not always good quality. To build a hot clean coal fire, you do need a measure of experience, and good quality coal or coal coke, which can be expensive and time consuming to obtain. If you can find a steady supplier of good coal, and are skilled at lighting hot fires, you will do well with a coal forge's versatility.

I recommend that you build your own forge, regardless of whether it's coal or gas you decide to use. Not only will you save money, but you are able to say that you built it, and that makes it special.

Getting Started

The first thing you will need to do if you want to become a blacksmith is set up your forging area, or smithy.

There are a few completely necessary items that you will need to have a functional forge area are:

• Forge. This can be a coal or gas fired forged, and any size, but it should be big enough to hold whatever project you plan on doing with room to spare.
• Anvil. You need a flat, unblemished work surface in which to pound the hot metal. Finding an anvil can be a bit of a bother, and you want the biggest anvil you can find. 100 pound is enough to see you through, but if you can find it, go for 250-300.
• Quenching Tank. This should be filled with water, but you can have another tank filled with oil as well. This is to cool the metal quickly, or bring the metal down to an touchable temperature after letting it air cool.
• Hammers and Tongs. You will need to use the hammer(s) to shape the metal and the tongs to hold it when doing so.

Some things are nice to have, and will speed up the process of forging, but are not completely vital and can potentially be expensive to buy, build, or maintain.

• Power Hammer. Although not strictly necessary, if working with a large amount of steel or a harder alloy compound, having a small power hammer, even a 25 or 50 pound will save your arm.
• Belt Sander/Bench Grinder. You can do everything you do on this machine with files and rasps, but you can get a more even grind and do it faster with the machine.
• Machinist Vice. Being able to hold onto a piece of metal while still being able to use both hands to twist or bend the metal.  

When you first start Forging, you will have a limited number of tools, but as you progress and become a better smith, you will find yourself accumulating tools to fit every situation. Making your own tools is a good skill to have, and the better you are at it, the nicer your tools will be and the more refined your final projects will become.