How to make your own tools

IF anyone/everyone ever had to fend for ourselves it will be the people who know how to find,refine,and work metal that will have an advantage.I plan to explain the basics in this thread.There is a lot of information to cover and this will take a few posts for me to cover(I will try to make at least one post a day). The most basic requirements are a hammer and an anvil(or anything that can be used as such). My goal is to equip everyone with the knowledge to make an alloy/alloys that will be not only useful but also superior to any commercially available alloy/alloy.I will start by explaining the most method of making steel.

Awesome post, and I'm looking forward to your future posts, but...

Originally posted by TheWetCoast
The most basic requirements are a hammer and an anvil(or anything that can be used as such).

How about a stirrup? (That was really hard to resist. Sorry.)

reply to post by TheWetCoast


I'll stick with my knowledge of finding and cleaning water. Of which i'll make bread with.

In jest, what are these tools you speak of?

The most basic tools that will be needed are:a gold pan,a small to medium fireplace bellows(not hard to make if need be),a hammer(metal-working;not a claw-hammer),at least two 10-15 gallon buckets(or the equivalent),an anvil(a smooth piece of granite will do in a pinch),firewood(you will need charcoal). I will describe and explain the other materials you will need in a latter post.

One of the secondary items that will be quite useful is a magnet.A sheet-metal magnet(any size)is ideal but in a pinch you can use a speaker magnet(8-12 inch). This is not required but it will help to separate the iron in the process that I will describe.It will also help if you wish to find non-ferrous metals such as cobalt,manganese,and nickel(which could be very useful).

One of the most important materials you will need is clay.Once you have a good source of clay you will be one step closer to being able to make steel.There is a simple method for purifying the clay(I will cover this very soon). The best part of this process is that it will allow you to make pots and anything else you can think of because the clay will not crack at high temperatures(unless you don't get the air bubbles out-which is easy).

The last sentence of my opening post should read-"I will start by explaining the most basic method of making steel". I always seem to discombobulate my grammar in one way or another and I hope this will not cause too much confusion.

reply to post by TheWetCoast


When it comes to surviving, be it doom and gloom or simply 3 weeks without the luxuries we abuse, I personally would not waste precious fluids/calories/energy to construct said tools. It would be a waste of resources.

As said in the above post, I would concentrate on sustaining a reliable source of food and water. Tools used..maybe a rock and some sticks.

That's just me though.

Before you begin to find and try to refine any metal you will need to locate a few materials to use as your flux(this is any substance that will help to remove impurities in the melting process). When making steel the charcoal you will use should be just fine(but I believe that there is no such thing as overkill for this method). You will need cellulose and calcium;I would use a wasp/bees nest for the cellulose and clam shells/animal bones for the calcium(you will have to bake animal bones because you will need to turn them into a powder). If you can find Rutile(titanium dioxide),use it;this is to be considered one of the best materials to use as a fluxing agent.Aluminum dioxide is also good;but you will need to have the aluminum on hand if you hope to use it for a flux.

reply to post by blackspirit

I have an unlimited supply of fresh water and just about as much food.This is not something I am concerned about.To refine metal as I will describe takes at least ten people and a month-but it is worth the effort if you can do it.

As interesting as I think metalworking/metallurgy is, I gotta ask why? There are literally hundreds of thousands of tons of scrap metal of all sorts out there for the taking. In a real collapse of civilization,there would be tonnes more,as equipment was abandoned. I simply cannot concieve of any circumstance that would require me to learn to make steel. Just take whats already here,and turn it inot what you want. What do you envision yourself using this for,and what do you plan to do with it? I think blacksmithing is really cool,and would love to know more about it, simply for a hobby. As for survival, I would have to place it far downthe list of importance.

While not immediately important after a while it would be usefull when could take you from just surviving to thriving.
Think spear and arrow tips, pot and pans even trading with other people.
Keep it coming op.

i too have to say WTH ????????? homemade steel will be more like wrought iron than steel and wont be very usefull..after SHTF , the number of people will drop, and plenty of junk steel will be litering the streets, a more usefull thread would be how to make tools and things out of scrap metal, and how to harden low carbon steel into medium and high carbon steel.most people reading this only have so much time to devote to prepping and survival skill traning. yes its a valuable skill to know and have, if you have the time.i would rather spend time at the shooting range maintaning my marksmanship or learning wound trauma care as it will be a lacking skill for most people i am afraid., and such care will be in demand..i bet alot of people on this web site are just data hogs, reading all this stuff thinking that they can now survive because they know it all since they have read it all, when they need to learn skills by doing not reading .. me and xxclaro are not saying ney to this thread its just not very usefull info without going out and doing it, it wont take long after reading it that most people will forget the instructions on how to do it and just remember the idea of making your own steel, you have to DO things in order to REALLY have the skill..FYI Railroad Rails only make "good" anvils standing up on end as to not flex and bend and absorb blows, an anvil needs to resist blow and force as solidly and firmly so as to form heated metal, RR have good steel in them but laying on the ground they flex too much as an anvil, but hey if its all you have good luck.

this is good knowlege to have. i think people need to stay on topic and add to the conversation instead of trying to ney say what the OP is trying to put out there.

as said by another, keep it coming OP.

a decently made homemade forge. there are a few pictures here available but the computer im on wont let me upload them to properly embed them.

Might I suggest a book on this topic?

gingerybookstore

These are some of the best books I have seen on making your own shop tools. Sure power is needed to make most of the tools work, but with a little reading a person can even hand build that.

i have most of dave gingery books and some of his sons books too, all good. i am halfway through making a metal cutting lathe, i already have a old atlas 10x36, but need a larger swing to turn disk brake rotors.i am a machinist of 33 years ,and if your not your going to have a tough time even understanding these books, they are made for people who cant afford a 1000$ lathe or milling machine.,but already know how to use one(machinists)..thats why dave wrote these books he wanted his own machine shop at home,since at work they wouldnt let him use theirs. he wrote his first book after he made up a lathe succesfully using AL castings ,and flat plate steel, .. after finding welding up angle iron didnt work..dave never could afford expensive tooling so he made his own, finding it worked just fine.but as to using and making your own steel no, all of these type books start with factory rolled and formed steel, such as I-beam ,angle iron, structual metal tubing ,flat plate and other steel that is flat, straight, round,and smooth and fairly accurately made..and can easily and cheaply be found in the nearest scrap yard.Here in the USA we have Vo-Tech schools that are part of the public school system, and you take a course the last 2 years of high school and its free.they do offer adult night classes that are afforable and you will learn a skilled trade..take a course in machine shop or becoming a machinist before you try to make a machine tool or even a wood working machine of any kind, you'll save your self a lot of fustration and time.

Sure....You try and make your tools out of scrap metal(if so I recommend using the spring steel from old cars). I think is important to remember that iron is heavy and hauling a bunch of steel around may not be practical. If you have retreat to remote location I suggest bringing as many tools with you as possible.Hopefully you would not need to make your own tools for months(or even years),but knowing how can never hurt.

I managed to find a few videos which should help.