Picked up a dozen hiking the railroad tracks yesterday. Seems I ought to be able to do something creative with them. I usually don’t create purely for art’s sake, I want it to be practical.
I can wire wheel the rust off but can’t heat it enough to work that way.
You can make a forge shell from the bottom third of a steel bucket or a galvanized feed trough. (Zinc vapor can kill so stay upwind on the first firing.) Line the forge with a mixture of fire clay and vermiculate. There are lots of recipes for forge and foundry lining. Don’t use a brake drum, too much thermal mass in the cast iron.
Actual coal is nice but I’ve used the hardwood lump charcoal a lot because it’s easy to get, it’s what was used before coal was common.
My bellows is a squirrel cage blower from a microwave. Light switch and plug wired in. PVC elbow and pipe to a piece of exhaust pipe that slides into the forge. Piece of bean can and close hanger wire to control airflow like the flap in a carburator inside the PVC.
Basically made it out of junk 20 years ago, works fine for my needs. Lot of fun and comes in handy.
Make some knives. I forget the codes, but some spikes are made of a medium carbon steel and will harden a little on a quench. I quenched in salted ice water with no temper to get them as hard as the medium steel was capable.
Hit me up if you want pics or advice.