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my personal opininion (and this is the way i learned......as ray said a forge is very simple and cheap to make (ray has a video on how exactly to build a cheap forge talk to him about that) So i made a couple forges the one i use now is for dammascsu as i don't forge my blades or HT them in there but essentially it is a small air compressor tank that i cut both ends off off drilled 2 holes in the side on the right angles to insert the burners then the floor is done with HARD fire brick and then inswool or kao wool is put in the forge to cover everything else but the floor and then satinite is painted onto the wool..this thing works great...now each steel is different so pick 1 steel to learn first and this is how it was tought to me (and this is a quick run down ask questions to elaborate when you get there) it worked great first i made a couple "coupons" all that is a small rectangular piece of steel that you basicly pretend it is a blade and heat treat it....check it with a file to make sure it is hard then temper it then put it into a vise and hold on to the other end with large plyers to give you leverage....pull down and break that coupon in half....first note how much of a angle it bent before it snapped then check the grain....you may have to do this a couple times to get the best results but once you do then make a blade and heat treat it exactly as you did with the coupon finish the blade and test it do cutting test see how long it takes to get dull cutting rope cardboard what ever stab it into something and pull out....write things down so you can compare with the next blade
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