Forge vs. Furnace — What's the Difference?

A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature where it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the point where work hardening no longer occurs.

A furnace, referred to as a heater or boiler in British English, is a heating unit used to heat up an entire building. Furnaces are mostly used as a major component of a central heating system.

A furnace or hearth where metals are heated or wrought; a smithy.

An enclosure in which energy in a nonthermal form is converted to heat, especially such an enclosure in which heat is generated by the combustion of a suitable fuel.

A workshop where pig iron is transformed into wrought iron.

An intensely hot place

To form (metal, for example) by heating in a forge and beating or hammering into shape.

A severe test or trial

To form (metal) by a mechanical or hydraulic press.

(UK) An industrial heating device, e.g. for smelting metal or baking ceramics.

To give form or shape to, especially by means of careful effort

A device that provides heat for a building; a space heater.

To fashion or reproduce for fraudulent purposes; counterfeit

(colloquial) Any area that is excessively hot.

To work at a forge or smithy.

(figurative) A place or time of punishment, affliction, or great trial; severe experience or discipline.

To make a forgery or counterfeit.

To heat in a furnace.

To advance gradually but steadily

To exhale like a furnace.

To advance with an abrupt increase of speed

An inclosed place in which heat is produced by the combustion of fuel, as for reducing ores or melting metals, for warming a house, for baking pottery, etc.; as, an iron furnace; a hot-air furnace; a glass furnace; a boiler furnace, etc.

A furnace or hearth where metals are heated prior to hammering them into shape.

A place or time of punishment, affiction, or great trial; severe experience or discipline.

A workshop in which metals are shaped by heating and hammering them.

To throw out, or exhale, as from a furnace; also, to put into a furnace.

The act of beating or working iron or steel.

An enclosed chamber in which heat is produced to heat buildings, destroy refuse, smelt or refine ores, etc.

(computing) A Web-based collaborative platform for developing and sharing software.

(metallurgy) To shape a metal by heating and hammering.

To form or create with concerted effort.

To create a forgery of; to make a counterfeit item of; to copy or imitate unlawfully.

To make falsely; to produce, as that which is untrue or not genuine; to fabricate.

(often as forge ahead) To move forward heavily and slowly (originally as a ship); to advance gradually but steadily; to proceed towards a goal in the face of resistance or difficulty.

(sometimes as forge ahead) To advance, move or act with an abrupt increase in speed or energy.

A place or establishment where iron or other metals are wrought by heating and hammering; especially, a furnace, or a shop with its furnace, etc., where iron is heated and wrought; a smithy.

The works where wrought iron is produced directly from the ore, or where iron is rendered malleable by puddling and shingling; a shingling mill.

The act of beating or working iron or steel; the manufacture of metallic bodies.

To form by heating and hammering; to beat into any particular shape, as a metal.

To form or shape out in any way; to produce; to frame; to invent.

To coin.

To make falsely; to produce, as that which is untrue or not genuine; to fabricate; to counterfeit, as, a signature, or a signed document.

To commit forgery.

To move heavily and slowly, as a ship after the sails are furled; to work one's way, as one ship in outsailing another; - used especially in the phrase to forge ahead.

To impel forward slowly; as, to forge a ship forward.

Furnace consisting of a special hearth where metal is heated before shaping

A workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering

Create by hammering;

Make a copy of with the intent to deceive;

Come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or priciple) after a mental effort;

Move ahead steadily;

Move or act with a sudden increase in speed or energy

Make something, usually for a specific function;

Make out of components (often in an improvising manner);