The best forging sessions have a rhythm to them: rack out the tongs, light the fire, bring the steel up, watch the colour shift from cherry to orange. That rhythm only works when everything behind it is in order. Ten minutes of checking before you light up will save you a burnt forearm, a scorched bench or a very unpleasant afternoon — and it means the only thing on your mind when the steel is hot is the hammer.

Below is the sequence I run through before every session, whether it is a two-hour evening at the anvil or a full day of production work. Print it, tape it to the wall by the light switch, and work down it in the same order each time.

Start with the person: PPE

Check what is on your body before you check anything else, because that is the part of the workshop you cannot replace.

• Eye protection. Rated safety glasses for general forge work, sealed goggles when grinding, brushing or cutting, and a face shield for heavy grinding and cutting off stock. Check the lenses for deep scratches and crazing — damaged eyewear fails when it matters.
• Ear defence. Power hammers, angle grinders, die grinders and the belt sander all sit in the range where you should be wearing plugs or muffs. Keep them on the grinder, not in a drawer.
• Boots. Leather uppers, toe protection, laces tucked in. Skip the synthetic trainers — they melt and stick.
• Apron and sleeves. A leather apron over natural fibres: cotton, wool or leather. Polyester and nylon burn and melt into skin rather than shedding scale.
• Gloves, with a caveat. Heat-resistant gloves for handling stock and tongs are essential. Take them off at the drill press, belt grinder and power hammer, where loose fabric can be caught and pulled in.
• Nothing dangling. Hoodie cords, necklaces, watch straps and untied hair all have a habit of finding hot metal or rotating tools.

Ventilation and air quality

A coke fire and a propane forge both produce carbon monoxide, which is odourless and gives no useful warning. If you forge in a garage or a shed, you need more than the door cracked open: aim for a through-draught, with an opening low down and another high up so hot gases can escape. An extractor hood over the forge with heat-rated ducting is worth the money. A cheap carbon monoxide alarm in the workshop is cheap insurance.

Do not rely on a desk fan pointed at your face. It moves air around without removing combustion gases. If you find yourself with a headache, dizziness or nausea while working, stop, shut the fuel off, and get outside into fresh air. If symptoms do not clear quickly, seek medical advice.

Fire safety before the first heat

Sparks travel further than most people expect, and a forge is a permanent ignition source. Before you strike anything:

1. Check your extinguisher — right type, in date, pressure gauge in the green, and within a few steps of the forge. Water or foam suits wood and paper; dry powder or CO2 suits electrical. Metal fines such as aluminium, magnesium or titanium burn hot enough to defeat a standard extinguisher, so sweep those swarf piles into a metal container rather than the general bin.
2. Keep a fire blanket within arm's reach of the forge, and a bucket of water or a quench tank beside the anvil.
3. Clear a metre of bare floor around the firepot. No rags, no plastic tubs, no aerosols, no sawdust bin, no cardboard.
4. Check your exits. Two ways out is better than one, and both need to be clear of stock and offcuts.
5. If you are working alone, tell someone, keep your phone in a pocket rather than under a pile of steel, and agree a time to check in.

Fuel, hoses and equipment

Gas first. Run your hand along the whole hose and look for cracking, stiff patches and perished spots, then check the connections. Test for leaks with soapy water brushed on the joints — never with a flame. The cylinder should be upright, secured so it cannot fall, stored outside or in a well-ventilated place, and the valve shut when the forge is not in use. Use a regulator and hose rated for propane, not whatever came with the barbecue.

Next, the forge itself. Look at the lining: hairline cracks are normal, but loose chunks and blown-out patches are not. Ceramic fibre blanket is a respiratory irritant when disturbed, so wear a respirator if you are handling or replacing it. Check the burner, the blower and the thermocouple while the forge is cold and quiet.

On solid fuel, clear out the ash pan, check the tuyere and firepot are free of clinker from last time, and top up the water in any side-blast or duck's nest arrangement. Coke stored damp will be a misery to light.

Finally, a two-minute tool pass:

• Hammer heads tight on the handles, no splits in the shaft.
• Anvil and stakes secure and not rocking.
• Tongs that actually fit the stock you plan to use.
• Grinder wheels intact, guards in place, leads and plugs undamaged.

First aid within reach

Check the kit before the session, not after. It should hold burn dressings, sterile dressings, a roll of cling film, eyewash, plasters and gloves, and you should know where it lives without looking.

For a minor burn, cool it under cool running water for at least twenty minutes, then cover it with cling film or a clean, non-fluffy dressing. No butter, no ice, no creams. Anything larger than a small area, or any burn to the face, hands or joints, or one that blisters, needs medical attention rather than heroic stoicism. For an eye injury, flush with clean water or eyewash and do not rub it; anything embedded or any change to your vision means a trip to urgent care. Keep NHS 111 and your nearest minor injuries unit in mind, and write both on the checklist so nobody has to search for them mid-incident.

Housekeeping: the floor under your feet

Sweep before you start. Scale, swarf and offcuts underfoot are how people fall while holding hot steel. Move hoses and extension leads so they run along walls rather than across walkways. Set out a designated hot zone — one bench or one patch of floor where hot work goes, and nowhere else — so a piece of steel cooling down cannot be mistaken for a piece that is safe to pick up.

Then check the light. You read heat colour by eye, and a failing bulb in the wrong corner makes orange look black. Fix it before you light the fire, not after.

Making the check stick

A checklist only works if it is short enough to actually do. Run it in the same order every time and it takes four or five minutes, most of which you would have spent faffing anyway. On rushed evenings, do the condensed version: eyes, air, fire, fuel, floor.

If someone else shares your workshop, agree on the same sequence and leave the checklist where they can find it. The point is not the paper — it is that you notice the perished hose, the blocked exit and the empty first aid kit on a quiet Tuesday, rather than on the day you need them.

Photo: Agzam / Pixabay