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Blacksmithing for Beginners
By Wendell Wyland (Jan. 2014)
What is blacksmithing? Blacksmithing is the art of heating iron in a forge and hammering it on
an anvil to create useful and decorative metal wares. The manipulation of hot iron by bending,
twisting, punching, joinery, welding, riveting, scrolling and splitting are also elements of
blacksmithing. The art of blacksmithing is the control of force in the hammer blow and the fine
manipulation of the hammer head face in relation to the plain of the anvil face.
Anyone can move hot iron with a hammer blow. The ability to translate the desired affect from
the mind to the metal is the art of blacksmithing. A professional blacksmith can perform a
particular task with a minimal expenditure of time and effort. A novice blacksmith will spend
much longer and expend much more effort trying to duplicate the task. As with all newly
acquired skills blacksmithing requires practice, patience, study, a willingness to accept
instruction and the constant critique of techniques.
What tools and materials are required for blacksmithing? A coal or gas forge, coal or propane, a
blacksmithing hammer, an anvil and stand, tongs, a leg vice, and mild steel. A novice smith
should never use scrap metal that has a galvanized coating or a shiny coating. These coated
metals when heated in a forge can give off fumes that are toxic and lethal. Painted scrap metal
may also be hazardous because of the chemicals used in the paints. Removing the paint by
grinding, scrapping or filing may lead to exposure to toxic substances like lead. Mild steel
purchased from a metal distributor is the safest material for a novice blacksmith.
There are two types of mild steel carried by metal distributors. Hot and cold rolled mild steel.
Hot rolled mild steel is heated when it is run through the shaping dies and contains scrap metal
that may be inconsistent in hardness. Also the dimensions of hot rolled steel are not as precise as
cold rolled mild steel. The hot rolled mild steel is cheaper than the cold rolled but may give
inconsistent results when forged. Cold rolled mild steel is run through the shaping dies cold and
has a more consistent hardness and truer dimensions because the metal does not contract as it
cools like hot rolled mild steel. Common sizes for beginners include ¼” square stock or 5/16”
square stock which comes in 12’ lengths but can be cut for an additional charge. Metal
distributors may have a $50.00 to $100.00 minimum purchase.
Coal varies in its quality and usefulness in blacksmithing. It is best to talk to a local smith and
find out where he buys his coal. Low sulfur and low ash are two desirable qualities. Coal can be
purchased by the bag but is cheaper by the truck load.
Acquiring an anvil, tongs, blacksmithing hammer and leg vise is a quest of searching
blacksmithing events, antique shops, yard sales, farm auctions, internet sites, agricultural
festivals, trade papers and canvassing friends and family for relatives, who may have inherited
rusty metal objects. The quality of used anvils, tongs, hammers and leg vises range from junk to
still functional tools.
An anvil has a cast body with a hardened steel plate welded to the top. There should be no
visible seam between the anvil and the body. The edges of the anvil face may be slightly rounded
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but should not be chipped. The heel and horn may show some wear but should be intact. Striking
a piece of steel laid atop the anvil should produce a ring. If the striking results in a dull thud the
anvil is dead and should be passed over. An anvil between 125 lbs and 150 lbs is good for a
novice. The price depending upon the condition of the anvil should be between $125.00 and
$250.00. New anvils are $700.00 and up.
Used tongs need to be tight at the jaw and able to tightly grasp the mild steel you plan on
working with. A pair of ¼” or 5/16” tongs is a good size to start with. New tongs may cost from
$35.00 to $44.00. Used tongs depending on condition could cost from $10.00 to $25.00. A pair
of general purpose flat jaw tongs may also come in handy.
Leg vises should have a jaw at least 6” wide. The jaws should close evenly across their full
width. There should be no rattle in the jaws when they are closed tightly and the jaws should
open and close smoothly. The vise screw should float freely as the jaws are opened and closed.
The leg of the vise should be intact. The mounting plate for the leg vise should be attached. If the
flat spring that opens the jaws is missing, it can be replaced. Care should be used when opening
and closing the vise. The round vise arm that freely slides through the eye of the vise screw can
bite the web of the hand if it is allowed to drop when it reaches the top of the rotation when
opening or closing the vise. A good leg vise may bring from $75.00 to $200.00. Vises with jaws
larger than 6”will bring considerably more.
Your hammer head must be securely attached to its handle. A loose hammer head is a hazard and
a liability if it flies off and injures a bystander. A 1000g hammer is an adequate weight for a
beginner. Used hammers may be hard to find in good condition and prices may range from
$12.00 to $25.00.
A new 1000g hammer will run about $25.00 to $40.00 depending on the style of hammer. The
handle of the hammer should not slip or roll in your hand.
A coal forge can be a small rivet forge which consists of a round fire pot, 3 legs, a tuyere with
piping to a hand crank blower. Larger forges will have a firepot recessed in the table with a
tuyere with a clinker breaker and ash dump. The firepot should not be cracked or burned through.
The table should be stable and the legs should not be wobbly. A used coal forge can range from
$125.00 to well over $400.00 depending on the size and condition of the forge.
A hand cranked blower should turn freely without rattle and the blower should coast to a stop
when you stop cranking. Place your free hand over the blower output, there should be a
noticeable flow of air blowing against your hand. If the air flow is slight or weak, the blades of
the blower may have deteriorated. If the blower rattles or chatters the bearings around the fan
shaft are worn. The gear box should have oil in it. If the gear box is dry there may be excessive
wear in the gears. The hand crank shaft should not move in and out of the blower gear box. This
is another indicator of worn bearings. A good used hand crank blower with stand can bring from
$125.00 to $300.00.
A new coal forge with electric blower or hand crank blower can be an expensive investment.
The cost of a new forge could range from $500.00 to $900.00. This will not include stove pipe to
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vent the smoke if you use your forge inside. Another option is a brake drum forge made from a
large truck brake drum purchased from a salvage yard. These brake drum forges can sometimes
be purchased at blacksmithing events from venders selling them from their tailgate.
Gas forges range in price from $400.00 to well over a $1000.00 and will not include the propane
tank or the propane. Gas forges limit forging to small projects because of the restrictions
imposed by the opening of the gas forge.
Your anvil should be on a stand such as a tree trunk or a wooden box filled with sand. It should
be secured to the stand with spikes driven into the stump and bent over the feet of the anvil. Lag
bolts can be screwed into the stand through links of chain pulled over the anvil feet. If your anvil
needs to be portable you can bend angle iron to create four corners for the anvil feet to sit inside
of. The height of your stand should allow you to hold the hammer with its face setting on the
anvil with your elbow slightly bent.
Now that you have assembled the essential items to begin blacksmithing let’s get started. Always
wear safety glasses or googles when forging. A leather apron is good for protecting skin and
clothing. Wear cotton pants and shirts. Manmade fibers like polyester can melt and stick to your
skin when exposed to extreme heat. Wear leather boots to protect your feet from dropped hot
metal and molten metal splatter. Always have a bucket of water handy for quenching metal,
wetting coal to control the size of your fire and sticking burnt hands and fingers into it to cool.
Black metal burns. Any hot metal not quenched should be placed in a designated hot place and
everyone nearby should be warned that any metal placed in this designated location is HOT.
When walking around with hot steel always carry the hot end pointed down at the ground. This
will minimize the chances of branding yourself or someone else. Always look before you turn
with a hot piece of metal to make sure your path of travel is clear.
Lighting a coal forge can be tricky. Take a couple of pieces of newspaper and loosely roll the
edges inward to create the head of a mushroom. Take two more pieces of paper and roll into a
mushroom head and combine with the first rolled newspaper. Light the newspaper on fire. When
it catches fire place it in the firepot and gradually push coal into the firepot and turn the blower
on or begin cranking. As the coal begins to burn there will be a large plume of white smoke. This
is normal. The impurities such as sulfur and silica are burning out of the coal and it is beginning
to coke. When all the impurities are consumed by the fire the smoke will diminish and turn
black. Sprinkling water on a fire can slow coal consumption and control the size of your fire.
Remember your firepot is cast metal and cold water coming in contact with a hot firepot could
crack it. A soup can with several small holes poked in the bottom and wrapped with a mild steel
handle makes a good watering can.
By varying the amount of air being blown into the firepot you can control the temperature of the
forge, the rate at which coal is consumed and the amount of heat absorbed by your forging stock.
Controlling airflow can be achieved with an air gate installed in the piping from an electric
blower to the tuyere of the firepot. By varying the opening of the air gate you can increase and
decrease the volume of air being forced through your tuyere to the firepot. With a hand crank
blower the air flow is varied by the level of intensity with which the blower is cranked. Heating
stock in the forge requires diligent attention to prevent burning your stock. A yellow heat is
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sufficient for forging. Going beyond a yellow heat can create a thin layer of molten metal on the
stock that will splatter when forged on the anvil sending molten metal flying in a plain parallel to
the face of the anvil for a full 360 degrees. When stock reaches a white heat it is very near the
temperature at which your stock will burn and be consumed by the fire.
Now that we are ready to forge let’s begin to examine the different techniques used to
manipulate mild steel. Drawing is forging to make the stock thinner and longer. This is achieved
by holding the stock flat on the anvil face and striking with the face of the hammer angled
slightly downward in the direction the metal is to be moved and rotating the stock a quarter turn
with each hammer blow. The motion is strike and rotate a quarter turn clockwise, strike and
rotate a quarter turn counter clockwise, strike and rotate a quarter turn clockwise, strike and
rotate a quarter turn counter clockwise repeating this process until you have a point of the desired
length and sharpness. This is used to create the tip of a hook or poker. Upsetting is the exact
opposite. The stock is being hammered back on itself to make it shorter and thicker. This
technique is used to create a mass of metal that can be flattened and punched for nailing a hook
to a wall or creating a leaf or other decorative end to your project such as an animal head.
Scrolling involves allowing the end of your heated stock to extend off the anvil face and striking
glancing blows to create a curve in the stock. Scrolls are often used in decorative ironwork such
as gates and railings. Twisting involves heating the section of your stock to be twisted to an even
heat and placing it in a vice and using a twisting wrench to twist the metal. Any adjustable
wrench will work. Count your full turns to determine the rate of twist. The more turns you make
the tighter the twist will be. Stop turning when the stock loses its color to avoid an uneven twist.
The stock can be reheated to finish the twist. Punching involves heating the stock and using a
punch struck with the hammer to create a hole. Punching should be done over the pritchel hole to
allow the punch to fully penetrate through the stock without damaging the face of the anvil or the
punch tip.
Bending is heating the stock and hammering it over the edge of the anvil to create a bend at the
desired angle. Bending should be done on a radius edge of the anvil as a sharp edge may cause a
stress fracture on the inside of the bend. Welding is joining two pieces of stock together by
heating to a yellow heat, applying flux, moving the two pieces of metal to the anvil, orienting
them in the correct positions to be welded and striking the pieces of stock causing them to electro
chemically bond and become one piece. The first hammer blow should be light to stick the two
pieces of metal together and continue to forge until the visible seam between the two pieces
disappears or the metal cools to a red heat. Forge welding can produce the molten metal 360
degree splatter and any bystanders should be warned to move way back to prevent injury. As
always eye protection is a must for forger and observers.
While forging it may be necessary to open your ash dump on the bottom of the tuyere to clear
accumulated ash that may be obstructing air flow. A small metal bucket placed below the ash
dump comes in handy for catching the ashes. If your firepot is equipped with a clinker breaker,
turning the handle several times can help break up obstructions in the grate at the bottom of the
firepot caused by impurities that collect and form clinkers. If you drop the clinkers on your metal
forge table, they will make a clinking sound, while coked coal makes no significant sound when
dropped. After shuttering your forge and allowing the firepot to cool, it is a good idea to use a
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rake to extract clinkers from your firepot. A rake is a long handle tool with a wide flat curved
blade used to move the coal around on the forge and for cleaning out the firepot.
The other forging techniques mentioned in this article, riveting and joinery, are best left for a
later discussion after the discussed techniques have become familiar to you. As with any hobby,
safety must be first and foremost for you to truly enjoy your new hobby and to share it with
others while doing no harm. As a beginner blacksmith, you are fortunate that most blacksmiths
are dedicated to preserving this ancient craft by providing lessons and sharing their time and
talent through public demonstrations.