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I Forge Iron

Building a portable bellows forge


David Einhorn

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Here is a new project that I have started, showing a photograph of a wooden
template that I made and used to bend the front end of the
frame for a portable forge (Army type - mid-1800s).

I used scrap wood because I only plan on making one frame. I tried to bend the
whole 120" length of iron for the frame as one piece and found that to be too
unwieldy for a single person.

My hope is to encourage more people to try making a bellows forge. Bellows are
very enjoyable to use and great for public demonstrations, nice and quiet, and
bellows fit in nicely in presentations at museums and historical events.

The resulting front of the frame is shown in the jig being checked by one of my
supervisors.

Also shown is a circa 1850s drawing by Capt. Albert Mordecai U.S. Army

post-2340-0-79777200-1297443835_thumb.jp

post-2340-0-01365300-1297443184_thumb.jp

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My pleasure to share, hopefully we can encourage more people to use bellows.

For my purposes, I have up-sized the forge from the original drawings so that it is 1/3rd wider and longer than the government drawings.

Here are changes I have made to the drawings.... so far.

The rear hinges on the frame are what I am working on now. When the rear legs of the frame are extended, the hinges grab and hold the cross-bar on the bellows... then when the rear legs are folded forward the cross-bar is released.

post-2340-0-70157100-1297446704_thumb.jp

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