I just read that a medieval blacksmith's forge could hit 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit

Found it in a book about old tools at my local library, and it blew my mind thinking about hitting that heat without modern gear. It makes you wonder how they controlled it so well with just bellows and charcoal. What's the hottest you've ever gotten your own forge to run?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey34216d ago

Disagree completely, that number sounds totally made up. Most historical sources I've seen put a good medieval forge way lower, more like 2,000 to 2,400 degrees. Hitting 3,000 would need perfect conditions they just couldn't get with charcoal and hand bellows every single day. It romanticizes the past to think they had that kind of control, they were just really good with the tools they had. My own forge runs plenty hot for the work I do, and I don't buy that old claim for a second.

abby_fisher17d ago

Remember reading about that too, and it always seemed crazy high. Honestly, my little backyard rig has never gotten near that, maybe 2,200 on its best day with a good coal fire and me working the bellows like crazy. Makes you respect the skill it took to not just melt the metal into a puddle at those temps. I bet a lot of it came down to reading the color of the fire, something you just have to learn by doing.

kevinallen17d ago

Yeah, reading the fire color is one of those things you can't really get from a book. I heard old smiths would sometimes throw a pinch of salt in to check the flame.