What did a medieval forge consist of?

[Felon]

OK, a character wants to set up his own shop in the HQ for weaponsmithing. He's got the anvil, the bellows, the big trough for cooling the weapons...now what else does he need? Well, he needs to be able to heat the metal, so what does that consist of? Is it just a big oven/furnace full of red-hot coals?

Metallurgy's just one of those things I'm not up to speed on. I'd appreciate any info. Doubly appreciate any links to sites on the topic.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Here's 1 link on the subject:

AnvilFire

There may be specific stuff on different types of metalworking (e.g., blacksmithing vs. armorsmithing vs. swordsmithing vs. whitesmithing [galavaned iron/white iron, tin], etc.); it should be easy to find (My girlfriend is in the SCA, & often does a lot of research on history & crafts online).

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

A web search is probably your best bet. The Stronghold Builder's Guide might have more info than gp cost and size, but I rather doubt it. From Stone to Steel almost undoubtedly has info on forges, but I don't own either of these so I don't know.

 

[deltadave]

Furnace, bellows, anvils, hammers, tongs, punches, drifts, chisels, raw iron blooms, pig iron just to start.

heat provided by coke or charcoal - used because it transfers less carbon to the iron and contains fewer impurities than coal or wood.

This is all just for basic blacksmithing. A weaponsmith would probably have many more and more specialized tools.

Weaponsmiths who exclusively crafted steel into weapons were rare, existing only in large cities or areas that were reknowned for weaponcraft - Damascus or Toledo for RW examples.

 

[s/LaSH]

From what I've read, blacksmiths tended to make lots of their own tools - often making things up as they went along. There was a certain standard set, but for doing anything more elaborate than hitting iron with a hammer (like punching holes, making various types of weld, gripping funny-shaped pieces of iron etc etc), you'd quickly get into personalised territory.

Also, at least one assistant. You need two hands to hold some items in place while hammering on them, and a lot of the time the senior blacksmith will be doing the holding while the apprentice does the brute hammering.

I may be using information from more recent times than medieval, but they sound good and give you some insight. You don't walk into a shop and say 'I'd like to buy stock for a forge', you build a forge. Maybe with some help from another blacksmith, in making the initial tools you need to make further tools. (And that other blacksmith makes a handy plot hook, if you're into that sort of thing.)

 

[Felon]

Furnace, bellows, anvils, hammers, tongs, punches, drifts, chisels, raw iron blooms, pig iron just to start.

What's a punch and a drift? Are these tools?[/QUOTE]

 

[ajanders]

Smiths tools

Mechanically, these tools are Craft tools from the PHB or SRD: they cost 5 gp, I think.

Cinematically, smithing tools generally consist of:

• Anvil
• Forge
• Blower/Bellows
• Quenching Buckets
• Hardy
• Swage Block
• Beak
• Tongs
• LOTS of hammers
• Punches
• Chisels

The anvil is the big funny-shaped block of iron we all remember getting dropped on the Coyote from the Looney Tunes cartoons.
The forge is essentially a well designed furnace that burns very hot, with the aid of a blower or bellows to feed oxygen into the flames.
Quenching buckets cool the hot metal: smiths would use oil, fresh water, or brine as cooling liquids, depending on the kind of tool they were making. (Free adventure note: somewhere is an evil smith who quenches his murderous blades in the blood of heroes. He thinks you'd be a great component for his next +3 longsword.)
Hardies and beaks fit onto the anvil and are used to cut or bend metal respectively.
Tongs are used to hold the hot metal: they come in all shapes and sizes.
Hammers are used to hit the metal: they come in all shapes and sizes too.
Punches make holes in metal for ventilation, decoration, illumination, or joining.
Chisels are used to cut metal: cold chisels cut cold metal and hot chisels cut (you guessed it) hot metal.
That's the 30 second talk.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

If you have a couple hours free for reading, I highly recommend getting a copy of the Pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio, which was a widely regarded 16th centure book on metals and metallurgy. It included a lot of basic "smithing" information. I picked up a translation from Dover Books a few years back. Chock full of wood cuts showing different types of smithworks, metal working techniques, and even things like charcoal burners at work.