Scoffed at the coffee can forge videos for a year, then tried one last winter in my garage

Jordan Hill · 2026-10-12T12:25:04.519889+00:00

I always thought those paint can forges on YouTube were a joke and that you needed a real brick forge to get anything done. Last December I got snowed in for four days in Cleveland and figured I had nothing to lose, so I lined a metal bucket with kaowool and lit it up. That thing hit welding heat in about 12 minutes and I forged out a small leaf hook start to finish in under a half hour. The insulation matters way more than the shell, which is what I never understood. Anyone else start on a cheap setup like this, or did you go straight to a gas forge?

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Scoffed at the coffee can forge videos for a year, then tried one last winter in my garage | Blacksmiths - Vivisector