How to Forge With Mild Steel

Build and light a small campfire using some wood scraps. Once burning, place your piece of steel into the coal and allow it to become orange to red hot. Let the fire burn out naturally and collect your steel once it has reached room temperature. The slow cooling process will further soften your mild steel, making it easier to work with as a beginner.

Light your forge and place your softened steel in it. Remove it using a pair of tongs when it has developed a red to yellow hue either all over, or just at the location you wish to form.

Hold the steel on your anvil using the tongs and with your free and dominant hand, strike the steel with a heavy hammer. With the steel red to yellow hot, it will be quite malleable and will be able to be shaped relatively easily by striking it against the hard anvil.

Replace the steel back into the forge whenever the red hue diminishes to keep up its malleable state. Once the steel has been shaped sufficiently to your liking, plunge and submerse it into a bucket containing some used motor oil if you wish to harden it. Cooling hot steel rapidly will harden it. Repeat this step depending on the amount of hardness required.

File and finish the cooled product using a fine-grit file if any imperfections in the pounding process are found.