I call it a sword forge but we really don't need it to forge a sword. You can do that on any old ordinary forge including the backyard forge that I have a tutorial for.

But we very much need something like this so we can harden, temper, anneal, and normalize a sword. To do these things you have to heat up the whole sword so you need a long forge with a long enough fire pit. That's what this forge is all about.

VIDEO: I have a video tutorial for this project at the bottom of the page.

A sword forge also solves the problem of heat treating a sword if you made it with the stock removal method. With that method you don't need a forge or an anvil. You can shape the whole thing with hand tools. But... you still have to heat treat the whole blade of the sword. And this is where the sword forge comes into use.

First let's take a look at the completed forge (picture below). This is how you can build it but it also gives you a good enough look so you can improvise and make something different that works just as well.

The Blower is just a blower I bought. It runs off 12 VAC. There is a sliding plate on it. You slide the plate to adjust the airflow.

We cut a 55 gallon drum in half logitudinally as shown. This is the bulk of the forge.

Add legs to it. They can be welded on or bolted on. Be sure to put it at a comfortable height to reach in and work on things.

Now you need to put a tuyere in so the airflow can get in there. The feed tuyere is in the center of the tube so the air can be distributed evenly to both sides. That tube that goes the length of the forge has a whole lot of holes drilled in it. And you can see that it stands up off the bottom of the barrel by about two inches. This is so it will be the right height for the fire bricks that will go in later. I will show you that.

This illustration gives you a good look at the paddle system inside the forge. By rotating the rods we can rotate the paddes and control the airflow to sections of the forge.

This picture shows the forge now completed. I have placed firebricks in it and a screen.

And this picture shows a sword in the forge. See how it is getting evenly red hot?

Watch the Video Here:

Blacksmithing for Beginners -

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New Edge of the Anvil: A Resource Book for the Blacksmith

The tenet of this book is provide a tool for artists/blacksmiths and metalworkers. It tells how to work metal: heating it, cutting it, upsetting it, drawing it out, twisting it, forge welding it and shaping and assembling it. It tells about metallurgy and tool making, metal finishes and corrosion, sources of information and supplies, charts and guidelines for many tasks. It explains the process of design, how to use the computer in metal design, how to set up a business and how to manage it. Providing an inspiration for all blacksmiths are portfolios of the wrought iron work of Martin Rose and Samuel Yellin, two of America's premier metalworkers of the past. To further inspire and to show the new focus of blacksmithing in the metal arts, six contemporary metalworkers show a series of demonstration pieces of their iron work. This 256 page book is bound with an improved binding system (Otabind) that allows the pages to lay flat.