making a forge

over my weekend i picked up most of what i need to get started on a little blacksmithing set up.
galvanized washtub, pipe, hammer, small anvil, old files for knife blanks..... getting really excited.

couple questions:
1. one thing im still working on getting is an air blower. something in me doesnt like the hairdryer idea. part of it is wanting to stay as unplugged as possible and a bigger part i think is just not liking the aesthetic. i know that sounds snobby but hey...i never claimed not to be a snob.
anyway. what are some other ideas for airflow that are not electric?
the instructor in the recent class i took was using an old fashioned hand turned blower. that was awesome but i think might be hard to juggle for a beginner. but im willing to learn fast if someone knows where to find one. it was just super cool.
or is there something that might work as a foot operated bellows??

any ideas?

#2. in direct contraction to my comment on being electric free i am curious about belt grinding. to the knife makers here: who uses/has used grinders?
who does hand filing? comments?

post coming up on how the project turns out!

thanks

you could make a foot operated bellows easily enough. if you didn't want to make it, you could use an air matress pump. the two way kind, that blow with both directions of the stroke would be nice.

hand filing annealed steel is easy enough, but grinding is just plain faster.

i have a grinder with two wheels of different grit, and a belt sander. i can get the grinding marks down with manual sanding, which could stand to be faster/easier.

i'm still a long way from refining my processes.

You can pick up a hand crank blower on ebay for cheap if you hunt around and are patient. I use a gas forge, its electric free but probably not in the manner you are after. As for the belt grinder, I have several..one I made and the rest I purchased. I like them, I have one set up to rough out the blanks and another to grind my bevels. I also have a large (6 x 48) sander that workes nice for shaping the handles or flattening the blanks. Regardless of having a grinder or not, get used to filing. I have yet to get through a knife without plenty of file strokes! Hope this helps.

I am play'in with the idea of an old woodstove and a squirrel cage fan. For now so long as I have power a hairdryer works great!

I do stock removal and don't forge blades yet. The other dat I heated up a piece of steel by using a piece of card board and got it hot enough to bend and hammered it flat. Candid has a great idea on the foot operated bellows.

I saw one of these things once, not sure if this is what you're palnning but there are alot of websites on them

http://www.anvilfire.com/index.php?b...hing%20FAQs%20

http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Blacksmith-F...item2ea8cab93e

I like the woodstove idea..with a tall enough chimney it may draft hard enough to get 5160 or 1095 up to forging temps without a blower at all. I may have to try this...thanks cowboy!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rebel

http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Blacksmith-F...item2ea8cab93e

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oh maaan. i was out clam digging all day yesterday so didnt see that until today...after the listing ened. that thing is SWEET. i wonder how often stuff like that comes up :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Camp10

I like the woodstove idea..with a tall enough chimney it may draft hard enough to get 5160 or 1095 up to forging temps without a blower at all. I may have to try this...thanks cowboy!

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Search my posts and you'll see my current forge....

cowboy can you post a link? you have a lot of posts....

Here's Cowboy's.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ighlight=forge

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ighlight=forge

Deja vu all over again.

Yep we posted within the same minute! I do appreciate it though....

nice! thanks for enabling my laziness :)

you can also line a barbecue grill inside with a few inches of clay. it will insulate the thin sheet metal, and hold much heat near the surface.

alternately, you could line with with firebrick and mortar between them.

there are at least dozens of approaches the average hobbyist could take at home.

I have recently acquired a roadside (trash) bbq grill that I will be lining with fire proof mortar to make a forge. In the mean time my temporary forge is sufficient for heat treating.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...nives001-1.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...nives002-1.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...nives009-1.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...nives010-1.jpg

Quote:

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there are at least dozens of approaches the average hobbyist could take at home.

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i am finding this out very quickly.

yesterday i found a .pdf for building two types of oildrum forges both with internal air blowers built in. one is in a more traditional bellows style and one requires fabricating a small fan from sheet metal that is foot cranked. amazing stuff.

i found this .pdf on a HUGE list of .pdfs dealing with everything from grain storage to woodworking, soil testing, gardening, animal husbandry, pottery, butterfly farming, technical specs and how to's for building a windmill, wind pumps, the list is insanely diverse. it is an incredible wealth of information that may be of interest

im nervous about posting a link these days but i think this one is safe. it isnt selling anything and im not affiliated in any way

here is the giant list.
http://www.cd3wd.com/CD3WD_40/CD3WD/index.htm

and here is the oil drum forge .pdf

http://www.cd3wd.com/CD3WD_40/JF/JF_VE/SMALL/04-110.pdf