SReynolds

I didn't read what the model no. is.................

if it is the popular 400 gear box, it will never be right (i.e. rough and noisy) if the ball bearings and cones (races) are rusty, thus pitted. That is the problem with the upper class blower. There is nothing you can do to make it work right, outside replacing the balls and dressing the cones or replacing the cones. You can use it, but they are really noisy and sorta "grind" when turned.

The other styles which don't employ the balls, will not be effected by the rust as they are steel on iron "bushings/bearings" aka friction bearings. I had one of the Champion 401-Eureka blowers that was literally filled with rust and it now turns super smooth and very quietly. I used a steam/presure washer to clean that one!!

I have used both. I began with the hard stuff. It was clean!! It was very difficult to light and had problems shaping the fire.

The soft coal is VERY dirty! It is easy to light, cokes up quickly and is very easily shaped and very easily lighted. It makes a smoky mess if you burn it. I do my bestest NOT to burn that stuff. I have to be careful and keep it damp and tight around the coke fire and it will coke quickly.

Yes, that is one of my great concerns; they need to fit tight. I don't like them bouncing and turning, thus my question about the (odd) hole size of 13/16. A 3/4" shank only fits snug at the bottomof the hole.........

I'm going to have to customize tools to fit each anvil. I ordered solid bar stock in 7/8 so I can experiment with the length/taper and grind-to-size for some tools I will be building such as a hardie cut, spring fuller and guillotine fuller. The guillotine was the best-est tool I saw for the one-man blacksmith shop and will have to have one/ build one.

I also mounted a bench vise on a 1" hardie shank to use the bench vise 360° atop the anvil.

Odd as it seems, I have mostly 7/8" hardy shank tools. Niether anvil uses 7/8. The 7/8" dimention is at the base of the tool and they are all tapered. I'm thinking chuck them up tight in the vise and use my angle grinder to "fit them" to the 13/16 hole in my smaller Trenton anvil.

Sorry........When I say buy a hardie tool, I be referencing the shank. That solid chunck of 1" square steel bar stock, 7/8" and 3/4" . I don't forge that. The spring fuller, yeah, but not the solid bar stock.

I have a Trenton, London patern anvil and have no idea what size this hardie hole is. I have all sorts of hardie tools (tools with a hardie shank) and nothing fits. The hole is square, at 13/16 inch at the top and tapers 1/16" at bottom of hole to 3/4".

All my old hardie tools (fullers,swages, hardies) are a tapered shank. I don't know if this is right or if it is from wear..................

My other Trenton is made with a 1" square and I have some tools to fit that. Most my tools are 7/8" and taper to 3/4" for some reason.

Are there tools for a 13/16" hardie hole or do I buy 3/4" tools?

The casting letters and numbers?? Yes, the later ones do that. The date(s) you see don't mean it was built then. That is the patent date (not built date) The very early ones had very little in terms of numbers and letters. Or was that the last of the production run....................? I don't know. I can send along a picture of one that does not if I find it in my files....

I personally like the non-ball-bearing models best myself. They seem to last longer in terms of wear/abuse/rust etc.etc. The 400 is the cream blower, but all them balls take a real toll in terms of wear and rust. Then they just don't work too well and take a ton of work to clean up, obtain balls and polish the cones. The bronze-phospher gear don't exactly wear as well as cast steel.

You will really like the 40. There is very little that can go wrong with the cast iron bushings. They either work or they don't. That is a real find!

You join a Historical Society that has a blacksmith shop. You get get more shop time tham what you'd care for............trust me on this. Orders will POUR in. Your hands will become callused. You will be shopping for tools.

I became so soaked with sweat last weekend forging for the historical society (early July in Northern Ohio) the coal soot/ash etc.etc. made a paste on me. MY wife had a real time cleaning the (white) shirt. She had asked me why I didn't shake off the soot like I normally do...........Duh!! IT was a paste! (apparently, to look the part of an old time blacksmith, I have to wear white shirts. White. In a blacksmith shop....................It looked like a wet "T" Shirt contest.

I left the shop early that day. I felt like I let the old time blacksmiths down. They would not have shut up shop early due to heat and taken a seat in the local McDonalds/drinking sweet tea. I feel like I don't deserve to hold the hammer any longer. I'm sorry.

I will wear sack-cloth and cover my body in coal dust for ten hrs.

You have it easy. I had to make this mount for a free Buffalo 501 which I was given. That took sometime. I wish it would have had a flange to bolt to. I had to construct the "flange" to have somethign to fasten the pedistal to, and had to make that too.

Deals are out there, but it seems there is much labor involved to make up for little or no cash outlay.

I remember some three years ago, I picked up my first blacksmith hammer. The trainer at the Historical Society trained me on walk hooks. 1/4 square and 7 inches long. I had to "draw" out the "eye". Then form the eye on the top corner of anvil. Cool the eye then form the "hook" on the horn by hitting on the eye to initiate the bend over the horn, then hammer a flat on the top (other end) for a nail/screw hole. Then twist it, just below the nail hole. LOTS of work for a first timer. I thought I must have been off my rocker.......He showed me once, then my turn. Had to do it all in one heat. Just kidding. Took me an hour and twenty seven heats.

The most difficult thing for me was to figure out which direction to bend the hook after I had formed the eye. The eye is rolled one direction, then the hook the other. The hook would be opposite of what you had made,,,, Scrolled outwards as others had stated above. I couldn't get the picture in my mind, especially since you make them from the back side. Like I was trying to tie a bow-tie looking in the mirror!!

It gets easier as time goes by. Keep at it, and someday you will be the one to demonstrate a hook in three minutes as other watch on in bewilderment.

I still make hooks (complicated ones) as they are a favorite among shoppers at the Society store.

I like to see it on the floor. I just can't help myself. I POUR it in and she finds her own level somehow. LOL ........................I never will learn.

I would have to look through my Champion catalog to se if I could find anything similar to that. I can't say that I remember seeing anything which resembles that forge.

This is my 9" 400. It was painted blue. I cleaned it up, inside and out, but I thought it looked so nice polished, that I oiled it and left it be. It was my first 400 and thought they are built overcomplicated compared to other Champion models.

If you have any light oil, that will work just fine, like ATF or some engine oil (5w-30 10w-40 etc.), or hydraulic oil, 10,20 weight etc. Yes, I know it has gears inside and gear oil works ok, unless it gets cold, then it can turn with quite a bit of effort.There isn't any load on these gears, so gear oil isn't needed.

If you felt like you had to buy some.......get a quart of 20 weight non-detergent from the hardware store.That stuff is inexpensive and made for things like that.

My 9" (case size) puts out tons 'o air too and that thing turns so nice. The larger case sizes turn harder and I don't think they put out more air, but the catalog says so................

You can crank the thing w/o the fan on the shaft and they spin free. Bolt the 12" case size fan on, it really takes a load to move it. The 12" case is made for the larger multipurpose forges and the 9" is the rivet/pan forge.

That big hole in the top. Generally, they have a spring loaded oiler cap. Pull it up and squirt whilest turning. When it runs out on the floor, you have applied plenty.

Never heard of a 500 blower.

Mine was cut and I welded in steel and cleaned it up so it appears original. Sorta wish I had left it as is, but I seldom use the 401 as I have two other forges I utalize. I do like the 401 best. It is a nice set-up and my 400 blower is like new, so it is a pleasure to use.

My other Champion rivet forge is not as deep and I don't have to cut out the sides, but it will not hold the fire. If you walk away for 20 minutes, the fire is out. The 401 holds a fire for a very long time.

You can set some fire brick in the bottom to form a "fire pot", but you would still need to cut a small notch in the pan at opposite locations to make fire tools like fire pokers,rakes etc.etc. I make a lot of those, and you have to work the center of the long fire pokers etc. to make a set of back to back twists.

Another mod you will need is the tool rack. I used flat stock 1/2" wide and maybe 1/8 thick and welded it to the side. It acts as a handle to carry the forge and holds my fire tools. I don't recommend hanging the fire tools right on the edge of the pan. They get a tad warm. You'll want the fire tool handles a bit below the top of the pan and set back from it about 1/2 inch-one inch. They never get hot.

If the $40 is a deal, what would you call the one (in working order) I picked up at an auction for $17?

Good find.

I would have to say a fair deal as I have one in perfect condition that was free for the asking. Not free in the full sense of the word, but I was given a Buffalo 201 blower and traded the guy that for a Champion 400 that had been recently apart and "restored", I guess you'd say. So, in a way, it really was free as I didn't want that Buffalo blower. More of a Champion guy myself.

I picked this 400 up at a garge sale advertised for 50.00 and took it home for 40.00 I wasn't looking for one. A fellow stopped in at the blacksmith shop and told me about it. He mentioned a forge blower for 50.00 and when I asked what model he replied it is a 400, so I figured it must be 150.00 NOT 50.00.

It is rusty but fully operational.

I was looking through one of my books and it mentioned the three popular medias for quench and lists room temp water as fastest, brine as middle of the road and oil as slowest. I never used brine and not really worried about that .

One other odditie I was informed of by my trainer is that you must dip the work piece and never swish it around in circles. I never thought that sounded right, but to each his own I suppose. He said it must be dunked in and pulled upwards.

The books say that water quench is quicker than oil. But the master blacksmith who trained me tells me oil is the quickest. I have asked him several times and listen closely becasue at first I thought I was wrong or hearing him wrong, but he just told me again a few days ago that oil is fastest of all and pure water is slowest of all with others used between to customize the speed.

He must know what he is doing as he is very popular and does beautiful work, so I have always assumed that the books out there in print have got it backwards.

.........................Another reason that I do not work with carbon steels. I can't get it right because the information is inconsistant.

How can I prove it to myself what is right or wrong?????? I just want to make pritchels.....................

One thing I always thought odd; he claims that hand tools are best made of mild steel. His tools are and the tools he makes me are. But,,,I would like to mess with high carbon and can't get anywhere with it. Perhaps that is why his tools are mild steel.......you can't mess that up!!

His pritchels work. His headers work. Maybe I just need to drop the idea and stick with the reliable mild steel?

I do appreciate your time/help!!

My instructor, a master blacksmith, tells me that the water cools slowly (because it creates a steam pocket around the steel and can't cool the steel) and oil will cool fastest as the oil won't boil/turn to steam, thus it pulls the heat from the steel very quickly.

With that understanding, my tools break apart (crack) when I cool them in water. He said I'm cooling it too slowly and the lattice structure is in turmoil and cracks the steel. So, I need to cool in oil. But I haven't tried it yet. I'm so tired of breaking my coil spring steel/flat spring steel tools I have lost interest in making them.

When I heat my pritchels to harden it, how hot do I make it prior to dipping into the oil, providing it is coil spring steel? And how do I soften the stricking end? By not cooling/hardening that part, just the tip/working end?? Or is it best to temper draw the entire tool?