The trick is you don't have to melt it to a liquid to work it
Before it's even a dull red it's as soft as toffee. You can heat the middle of a crowbar until it's so soft you can tie a knot in it, and still hold the ends in your bare hands.

All the "9/11 truthers" gibbering on about steel melting at over 1000°C are correct in that you'd need to get it up that high to melt it into a liquid phase, but the steel structure of a building would have lost all its strength and collapsed like wet paper at a few hundred degrees.

(edit - the forge actually uses an old heating boiler burner in a firebrick box to keep it all cosy. I must bring it down here next time I'm up north.)
(gordonjcp, Sat 3 Dec 2011, 11:16, 1 reply)

You're nearly there old son...
Get an old hairdryer and some ducting and you will have a mini blast furnace - molten steel is all yours if you have a crucible and some scraps. (courtesy of James May's Man Lab)
(AndyC4m Eject Eject [><], Thu 8 Dec 2011, 13:22, closed)