Does anyone know how to make your own little forge?
coal or charcoal fire with extra air. there are so many variations it is mad. at its simplest you could dig a trench, pack it with sand, work a pipe into it. light your fire and hook up a hair dryer or anything that blows air up to the pipe. the simplest make-your-own forge would be a brake drum forge. not classy, but they work fine. brake drum forges get some stick by "clever people"
http://www.beautifuliron.com/forge_brakedrum.htm but a break drum forge works fine for small projects, knives and the like. (personally i do not see the point of anti-anything rants like the one on that link. it kinda equates money to skill, i.e. no money for class stuff = will not have the skills to learn smithing. at least that is the vibe i got off it.)
http://techshop-ets.blogspot.com/2007/08/forge-anything-with-brake-drum.html
with some welding skill, salvage yard savy and patients you can build a pretty neat forge for 0 money if you like. so long as you have enough air, the right fuel and heat, you have a forge.
the tricky bit is an anvil...
this guy has class vids to help
http://www.youtube.com/user/purgatoryironworks