Heating

• Applying heat is a key component of the smelting and forging process. To smelt out metal from its surrounding ore, heat must be used to create chemical processes that separate the constituent parts. Bellows were used in ancient times, and mechanical heaters today, to create the high temperatures necessary to smelt metal from ore; heat is also very important when forging the resulting metal to maintain a soft consistency so that shaping can be carried out.
  
  

Hammering

• After the metal is sufficiently heated, usually close to but not at its melting point, it is repeatedly hammered. The purpose of hammering is to shape the metal towards the desired end result. This can either be done with workers wielding hammers or with mechanical equipment precisely hammering out the desired shape. Hammering metal in the forging process coincides with another important task, which is folding.
  
  

Folding

• The ancient Japanese used folding extensively and they are widely regarded as the masters of blade making. As the metal is heated and hammered closer to its desired shape, folding the metal over on itself and then further hammering is used to rid the metal of impurities. Some Japanese sword smiths would employ workers to continually hammer and fold their steel up to 30,000 times, resulting in fantastic patterns in the resulting blade.
  
  

Tempering / Quenching

• The final technique in the process is tempering the resulting metal form. Tempering is the dousing of the metal into a cool liquid bath of water. All previous steps of heating, folding, and sometimes adding additional blends of metal to the end product would alter chemical bonds; when heated to the proper temperature just before inserting into the water, with subsequent reheating and quenching, would result in an end product that was both hard yet flexible.