At the basic blacksmithing meets, Greg teaches the basics of forging. Learn to make your own squirrel cooker or camp knife.
Forging
The process smiths use to shape metal by hammering—differs from machining in that forging does not remove material. Instead, the smith hammers the iron into shape. Forging uses seven basic operations or techniques:
Drawing down
Shrinking (a type of upsetting)
Bending
Upsetting
Swaging
Punching
Forge welding
These operations generally require at least a hammer and anvil, but smiths also use other tools and techniques to accommodate odd-sized or repetitive jobs.
