Ever considered forging iconic symbols? How about forging the heart symbol? The heart is an emblem of love that is useful in depicting one’s pronounced feelings.
The heart is indeed a symbol of love, as many people make use of it to make. Many people also use a forged metallic heart to beatify the interior and exterior parts of their homes. Metallic hearts are also attached to other forged object to make them more attractive to the eyes.
You know it is effortless to forge when you have a series of steps and procedures to follow. Just like every other blacksmith project, forging a heart also requires steps and procedures.
Instructions on How to Forge a Heart
Step 1: Get a Steel Rod
We all know that the heart is a symbol of love, so you should use good quality material to forge it. There are many ways to form it, but here is a straightforward method that requires natural material and little or no stress.
You should get a steel rod to forge the heart. We are going to forge the outline of the heart, not the whole body.
Step 2: Heat the Steel Rod
You should know that heating is an essential process in forging. Forging a cold metal is more difficult than forging hot metal and heating is one of the prominent processes in forging with metals.
Place the steel rod in a forge for heating. Heat the rod to a very high temperature. The rod should become red hot before you remove it from the forge.
Step 3: Beat the Steel Rod Into Thin Shape
The heart does not need massive steel before you can forge it. You only need thin steel rods that are very malleable to forge this material.
After retrieving the rod from the forge, you should place it on an anvil. Hit the steel rod with a hammer and beat the rod into an elongated but thin sheet.
Step 4: Forge Your Heart
You have to start forging your heart as soon as you have your thin sheet of steel. You should reheat the rod if it is getting cold; this is because you have to forge the steel while it is still hot.
Quick steps
To make your heart, you should follow these procedures:
- Measure the length of the rod and get half of the rod.
- Beat the rod into a ‘V’ shape.
- Make sure the two sides of the metal are equal.
- Please place it in a forge for heating at intervals.
- Bend the tip of the ‘V’ shape in a semicircular manner using your plier. The tips of the rod should meet at equal distance.
- Place it in the forge for heating.
- Hit the heart with a hammer to merge the two parts.
Step 5: Reheating
You should reheat the heart in a forge to help it increase its toughness and durability. To reheat, place the heart in a forge and allow it to heat up. After a while, you should remove the heat from the forge.
Step 6: Quenching
After retrieving the steel from the forge, you should immerse it into a quench liquid to cool. The quench liquid can either be water or oil.
Quenching strengthens the metal and makes it more durable. It would be best if you were careful when quenching hot steel in oil as it can cause a fire outbreak.
FAQs
Question
Can I forge my heart from iron?
Iron is a metal which means you can forge with it. As long as you can forge with the iron, then you can forge a heart with it. The best metal to forge a heart with is the steel because it has some features that make it suitable for forging.
Question
Do I have to forge only the outline of the heart?
You can make the body as well as the outline of the heart if you want. We only forged the heart’s outline because it requires less material than the whole body which requires more materials.
We also considered the ease of forging. Forging the whole body might seem complicated, especially to amateurs. So, we decided to forge the outline only, but you can forge the whole body if you want; you will only need to follow some steps and procedures.
Question
Can I use the heart I forge as neck jewelry?
Yes, you can. But it depends on the size of the heart you forged. If you forged a large-sized heart, it might be unethical to use it as neck jewelry, but if the heart is of small size, you can use it as neck jewelry.
Video
Warnings
Safety is paramount in everything we do especially during blacksmithing processes. When forging, you should make sure that you carry out safety precautions. Observing safety precautions will not only guarantee your safety but also make you organized when forging.
When forging a heart, you should follow the essential safety precautions which includes:
- Always put on safety attires to protect your skin from burns.
- Make sure you clean up your equipment before and after use.
- You should always run a regular check up on your tools.
- Get a fire extinguisher around you in case of a fire outbreak.
- Be careful when handling hot substances so they will not burn your skin.
- Always put on cotton cloths and not nylon cloth so they won’t melt on your skin while forging.
References
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2ZWYBJKNh8
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W10_MwJtCiE
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR5IYq7ntZg
4. https://www.instructables.com/id/Forged-Heart/
5. https://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/tutor/heart/index.htm
6. https://www.reddit.com/r/Blacksmith/comments/5szozj/advice_on_how_to_forge_a_heart/