Hey everybody. I'm new to this forum, my name is Collin Kimple and I live in Lee, MA. I have moved into a house out here and I just got the green light from the land owners to set up my first blacksmith shop! I shoe horses for a living and I am interested in setting up a shop for some shoe making, ornamental blacksmithing, etc. I have a little experience working in coal from when I went to horseshoeing school in Martinsville, VA but I am a total greenhorn when it comes to the workings of the forges themselves and I would love to get some advice. I obtained a Buffalo Forge from a friend of mine who was moving and could not keep it, I have pictures of the parts I have which include a hand crank blower. For one, I was curious if I could date how old this forge is; my plans were to make a hood and legs for the forge (any ideas on what materials to use appreciated) and I'd like to hook up an electric blower which I have investigated a little on centaur's site. I was curious if the 115 volt Dayton would be powerful enough and if I could retro-fit this to the part that the hand crank blower is attached which blows underneath the fire pot (forgive me for not knowing much about this). I also was curious how I could help the integrity of the forge as it obviously has spent some time out in the elements, I read something about putting some sort of clay in it. Basically anything else I should know would be appreciated, read as I'm a complete newbie...assuming I'd run some kind of chimney pipe out through the roof of the shed...do I mount the forge close to the wall or keep some space between? Thank you so much and if there are any resources on this forge or that you think would be helpful I'd love to do some homework, I was reading a little on the history of Buffalo Forge and saw pictures of some that gave me some ideas how i'd like to set this all up. Thanks so much and here's to hopefully banging on some steel in the near future Collin
