Bladesmithing tools: setting up a forge workshop on any budget

The bladesmithing tools you need are a heat source, something hard to hit on, a hammer, tongs to hold hot steel, a vice, and a lidded metal tank of proper quench oil. Add safety kit and the same files, abrasives and grinder a stock-removal maker uses, because every forged blade still has to be ground and finished.

You can start forging knives for roughly £100–250 if you scrounge, and £400–900 buys a solid starter shop. This guide covers blacksmithing tools for knife making at every budget, what to buy first, what to make yourself, and where the money is wasted.

It is for people who want to forge their own blades, not just grind them from bar. If you'd rather start with files and a grinder, read knife making tools first.

Bladesmithing tools at a glance

These tier totals are our own estimates, built from dated item prices in this guide. They are not a quote from any shop.

What do you actually need to start forging knives?

Blacksmiths talk about the core four: forge, anvil, hammer and tongs. For blades you need three more things on day one: a vice, a quench tank with the right oil, and basic safety kit.

Everything else can wait. Fullers, swages, a power hammer and a press are upgrades, not starting kit.

The finishing kit is not optional, though. A forged blade comes off the anvil with scale, uneven bevels and a rough profile. You will spend more hours filing and grinding than forging, so budget for it from the start.

Which forge should a beginner buy?

Most knife makers start on propane. A gas forge lights in seconds, heats evenly, makes little smoke and is easy to turn down for heat treating. Coal and charcoal work well and are cheap, but take longer to learn and make smoke your neighbours will notice.

Here is the short version. The full comparison, with product picks, is in our knife making forge guide.

• Two-brick torch forge (~£30–60): two soft insulating firebricks and a plumber's torch. Fine for heat treating small blades and very small forging work. A Bernzomatic TS8000 on MAP gas brought a 1080 blade to non-magnetic in under 3 minutes in one forum report (BladeForums). See DIY forges.
• Budget propane forge: Vevor single or double burner propane forgeVevor · $85–131 (Oct 2026) or Devil Forge 2-burnereBay. Good value, but plan for a seal coat and the right regulator.
• Premium gas forge: cast-refractory forges such as the Atlas ($339 at Pop's Knife Supplies, sold out on 28 Oct 2026) heat up faster, last longer and need less fixing (Pop's Knife Supplies).
• Induction: clean and fast but expensive. The Victory Forge Force 15 kW is £1,800 inc VAT and needs water cooling bought separately (Forged Ironmongery, Oct 2026) (Forged Ironmongery).

Do you need a real anvil for knife making?

Not on day one. A section of rail stood on end, a sledgehammer head set in a log, or a thick steel block will forge your first blades. Standing rail on end puts about half its mass directly under the blow, and a 28" (710 mm) piece weighs around 100 lb (45 kg) (anvilfire).

What matters for blades is a hard, flat face and mass under the hammer. Knife stock is small, so you don't need a huge anvil, but heavier anvils move less and waste less of your blow.

Don't buy a cast-iron "anvil-shaped object" (ASO). Cheap cast-iron anvils are soft or brittle and dent or chip. Cast steel or forged steel is the minimum (BushcraftUK). On Vevor's own site, for example, choose the cast-steel models and skip the cast-iron ones.

Rough prices seen in Oct 2026:

• Vevor cast steel: 66 lb $131.90, 110 lb $230.90, 132 lb $289.90 (Vevor).
• Kanca drop-forged 35 kg (77 lb): $475 at Blacksmiths Depot (US) (Blacksmiths Depot).
• Victory anvils in the UK: £259.20–348 inc VAT (Forged Ironmongery).
• A good used full-size anvil in the UK: about £400+ plus delivery (forum estimate, undated) (BushcraftUK).

Our anvil buying guide covers weights, brands, rebound tests and stands in detail.

What hammer is best for forging knives?

Start with one cross peen of about 1–1.5 kg (2–3 lb). The flat face draws and flattens; the peen spreads steel fast in one direction, which is useful for drawing out a tang or a blade.

Forum advice is a hammer of about 2 lb with a face and a fullering peen, or a similar ball peen (iForgeIron). Picard Swedish-pattern cross peens in 1,000 g and 1,500 g start at about $57 (Pieh Tool, Oct 2026) (Pieh Tool).

Options by budget:

• Free to £20: a car-boot or garage-sale hammer, rehandled, with the face dressed to a gentle crown and the edges rounded. This is the classic budget route (iForgeIron).
• Entry new: Estwing blacksmith's hammerAmazon. Widely sold, but the face usually needs dressing before it's good on hot steel.
• Better: Picard 1–1.5 kg cross peenPieh Tool · from $57 (Oct 2026) or a rounding hammer such as the Nordic Forge 2 lb rounding hammerAmazon.

A heavy hammer is not a badge of honour. Too heavy and your accuracy falls apart and your elbow complains. See blacksmith hammers.

How many tongs do you need?

One or two good pairs, matched to your stock. A wolf-jaw tong holds rounds, squares and flats up to about ½" (12 mm). A flat-jaw or blade tong holds bar and blade blanks. Typical handle length is 14–18" (355–455 mm) (BladeForums).

Tongs that don't fit the work are dangerous. Hot steel twists out and lands somewhere you don't want it.

Ways to get them:

• Make them from blanks. Ken's Custom Iron sells cut blanks you finish yourself; one maker said it's "hard to beat a set of tongs for $12" (undated) (BladeForums). Guide: making tongs from blanks.
• Buy handmade. Flat-jaw blade tongs for 3/16" stock (FoxwoodForge)Etsy · $52 (Oct 2026) are made to fit knife stock.
• Buy a cheap set and adjust them. Vevor 4-piece blacksmith tongs setAmazon is a starting point; expect to reshape the jaws hot so they grip your bar.

More in our blacksmith tongs guide.

Do you need a leg vice?

A leg vice (post vice) is the most useful tool after the core four. Its leg carries hammer blows into the floor, so you can bend, twist and straighten hot steel without wrecking it. An engineer's bench vice is cast and can crack if you hammer on it.

Leg vices are a second-hand buy. Check the screw and screw box first, then that the jaws meet squarely. They are rated by jaw width; 4" (100 mm) is light. Forum reports suggest prices roughly doubled from about $60–80 around 2019–20 (iForgeIron, 2020).

For knife work, a solid bench vice is fine for cold work: filing, handle fitting and clamping. A Vevor 6½" heavy duty bench viceVevor · $109.90 (Oct 2026) or Stanley MaxSteel 150 mm bench viceAmazon does that job. See leg vices.

What do you need for quenching?

A metal tank with a metal lid, filled with enough of the right oil. Not a plastic bucket.

Forum guidance is a couple of gallons (about 8 litres) in a container at least 6" (150 mm) wide and 6" deeper than your longest blade. A length of welded pipe or an old cylinder makes a cheap tank (BladeForums).

The oil matters more than the tank. In Knife Steel Nerds' tests, canola could not fully harden ⅛" (3.2 mm) 1095 or 1084, and the author's advice is to buy a fast oil such as Parks 50 if you buy only one (Knife Steel Nerds, 2021). Our heat treating guide covers oils, temperatures and UK options.

Also keep a water bucket (a "slack tub") for cooling tools and tong jaws, not blades.

What safety kit do bladesmiths need?

The minimum for forging is:

• Safety glasses, always. Scale flies off hot steel.
• Hearing protection. Steel on steel is loud, and the damage builds up.
• Natural-fibre clothing: cotton or wool. Polyester can melt onto skin (iForgeIron).
• Leather apron such as the Portwest leather welding apronAmazon, plus leather boots.
• A fire extinguisher suitable for oil fires (dry powder ABC or foam), and a bucket of sand or a fire blanket (ABS forum).
• CO alarms in the forge area and adjoining rooms, for example a FireAngel FA6813 CO alarmAmazon.
• A P3 / P100 respirator for grinding, such as a 3M 6200 half mask with P3 filtersAmazon (BladeForums).

We found no good source on tinted or IR-rated glasses for forge glare, so we don't make a recommendation here. See knife making safety and the PPE checklist.

What finishing tools does a forged blade need?

Forging gets you close to shape. Finishing does the rest. The kit is the same as stock removal:

1. Files and a file guide. Buy good files. Cashen's advice is the best files you can afford (ABS forum). Bahco Ergo 5-piece file setTooled-Up in the UK, or Nicholson filesJantz in the US. See files and file guides.
2. An angle grinder with flap discs to remove scale and rough out bevels. See angle grinders for knife making.
3. A drill, ideally a pillar drill, for pin holes.
4. Abrasive paper from 120 to 400 grit or finer.
5. Later, a belt grinder. Veterans advise saving for a variable-speed 2x72 rather than buying intermediate machines (KnifeDogs). See belt grinders and 2x72 grinders.

Budget builds: what to buy at each level

Scrounger: about £100–250

• Two-brick torch forge or a solid-fuel "box of dirt" forge (iForgeIron)
• Rail on end, sledge head or steel block on a stump
• A used hammer, rehandled
• Tongs made from blanks or bar
• Bench vice you already own
• Metal tank with lid; canola for simple steels only, or save for proper oil
• Good files, abrasive paper, a drill
• Safety glasses, ear defenders, cotton clothes, extinguisher

One UK forum member was offered a forge hose, large gas bottle, anvil, tools and steel for under £150 in Sheffield (undated) (UKWorkshop). Bargains like that exist if you look and ask.

Starter: about £400–900

• 1–2 burner propane forge, plus UK regulator, long hose, seal coat and CO alarms
• 30–60 kg cast steel or forged anvil on a solid stand
• 1–1.5 kg cross peen hammer
• One or two bought tongs, plus some you've made
• A used leg vice
• Commercial quench oil and a proper tank
• Angle grinder, files, pillar drill
• Full PPE

Serious hobby: about £1,500–3,500

• Premium venturi or blown gas forge
• 50–100 kg+ anvil, new or good used
• A second hammer
• A 2x72 belt grinder
• A heat-treat oven, or a regular outsourcing arrangement

Professional: £5,000–15,000+

Power hammers and presses move a lot more steel and save your joints. Anyang power hammers sold in the UK run £5,154–14,424 inc VAT (Forged Ironmongery, Oct 2026) (Forged Ironmongery). Commercial 16–25 ton forging presses were $4,700–7,000 in 2021 (ABS forum). See presses and power hammers.

Use the tool-list builder to turn these tiers into a list for your budget, country and steel.

What can you make yourself?

Making your own tools is good practice, and cheaper. Forum veterans call punches and chisels "easily made and good practice" (iForgeIron).

Good first projects:

• Tongs. From blanks or bar. A first pair can be made from ¼" × 1" (6 × 25 mm) bar (iForgeIron).
• Punches and drifts. From old coil springs or tool steel offcuts.
• Hardy tools. Worn jackhammer bits from hire shops can be turned into hardy tools (iForgeIron).
• A forge stand, anvil stand and quench tank. Basic welding or bolting.
• A file guide. Two pieces of hardened flat bar and a bolt.
• A two-brick forge. See DIY forges.

What not to make yet: a gas burner (unless you follow a proven design exactly), a hammer, or anything that holds gas pressure.

Which steel should you forge first?

Forge simple carbon steel you can identify. 1084 and 80CrV2 are the usual picks because they forgive mistakes and can be hardened by heating to non-magnetic and quenching in oil (Knife Steel Nerds).

"Mystery steel" from old files and springs is tempting but wastes time, because you can't look up its heat treatment (ABS forum). Buy 1084 high carbon steel barJantz · $14.95–214.95 (Oct 2026) in the US. In the UK, buy from a knife or tool steel stockist that names the grade, so you can look up its heat treatment.

See our steel guide, the 1084 and 80CrV2 pages, and the steel selector. For shapes to forge, the seax, kiridashi and bushcraft templates suit forged blades.

How should you lay out a small forge workshop?

Keep the forge, anvil and quench tank close together, within one or two steps. Steel loses heat fast, so every extra step costs working time.

Put the vice where you can reach it from the anvil. Keep a clear path from the forge to the quench tank, with nothing flammable on the way. Put grinding somewhere else if you can, or at least far from the forge, because grinding sparks and fine dust don't mix with an open flame or a fuel store.

Set the anvil so your knuckles just touch the face when you stand next to it with your arm hanging down (Salt in My Coffee). BLADE Magazine advises a ventilated, dedicated room, with the forge away from sparks (BLADE).

FAQs

What are the basic tools for bladesmithing?

A forge, an anvil (or a heavy steel block), a hammer of about 1–1.5 kg, tongs that fit your stock, a vice, a metal quench tank with a lid and proper quench oil, safety kit, and finishing tools: files, abrasives and a drill. A belt grinder comes later. Most smiths add tools gradually and make many of their own.

How much does it cost to start bladesmithing?

You can start for about £100–250 with improvised kit and second-hand tools. A comfortable starter shop with a propane forge, cast-steel anvil, good hammer and proper quench oil costs roughly £400–900. Add a 2x72 grinder and an oven and you're into £1,500–3,500. These are our estimates from dated prices.

Can I forge knives without an anvil?

Yes. Rail stood on end, a sledgehammer head set in a log, or a thick block of steel all work for knife-sized stock. What matters is a hard, flat face and mass under the blow. Avoid cheap cast-iron anvils, which are often softer than a good piece of rail.

Is a gas or coal forge better for knife making?

Gas is easier for most beginners: quick to light, even heat, little smoke and easy to control for heat treating. Coal is cheap to run and gives a hot, focused fire, but takes practice to manage the fire and makes smoke. Both produce carbon monoxide, so ventilation and CO alarms matter either way.

What size hammer should I use for forging knives?

Start with a cross peen of about 1–1.5 kg (2–3 lb). It's heavy enough to move knife steel and light enough to control for a full session. Many smiths add a rounding hammer later. A heavier hammer is not better if your accuracy suffers or your elbow hurts.

Do I need a belt grinder if I forge?

Not at first. Files, an angle grinder and abrasive paper will finish forged blades, just more slowly. Most smiths eventually buy a 2x72 belt grinder because it saves hours per knife. Forum veterans advise saving for a variable-speed 2x72 rather than buying smaller machines in between.

What can I make instead of buying?

Tongs, punches, drifts, chisels, hardy tools, a forge stand, an anvil stand, a quench tank, a file guide and a two-brick forge are all good projects. They're cheaper than buying and they teach you hammer control. Leave gas burners and anything pressurised to proven designs or bought parts.

Sources

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