It’s an uphill battle these days to be your own blacksmith. Unless you’re a cartoon coyote, anvils are hard to come by and let’s not get started on the whole melting metal thing. Oh, wait, it’s the technology age! You don’t need a super-hot fire, just a microwave and a pinch of insanity.
Rulof Maker has the right idea. After scavenging an old microwave from the side of the road, he decided to convert it into a furnace.
Yes. A furnace. One hot enough to transform aluminium into silvery soup.
The basic idea is to gut the microwave of anything “that can burn”, as Maker explains and replacing it all with heating elements and ceramic fibre to insulate. Essentially, the microwave’s case is used a shell for the, uh “oven”.
Once complete, Maker goes on to melt aluminium inside a stainless steel bowl. Maybe not good enough to craft a broadsword, but it should impress the neighbours, if they haven’t called the council on you already.
[YouTube]