SReynolds

My Forge: Champion 401 w/blower

I added a new grate (1/4") and the fire tool hanger aka handle to hang my fire tools from and assist in carrying the forge from garage to drive-way.

It was in wonderful original condition with light rusting. I took it down and cleaned/painted and weld repaired one clamp on the leg support. The blower was taken down for a cleaning and inspection. It too was in near perfect shape save for the old/dry oil inside gear box.

I added the heat shield like the early versions originally had.

My Forge: Champion No. 401 w/blower

I took it down to the last screw and cleaned/painted. The gear box was in fantastic shape! I removed the spring loaded oiler so as not to break it off, and put that away in a safe place.

The bottom of the forge was slightly modified with a 1/4inch plate and a a low profile grate. One of the leg support clampshad to be welded due to a crack.

It works quite well!

I looked at some used Whitney punch/presses on e-bay. WOW Them R not cheap!

I don't know what a flypress is. I'll look into that.

In don't have a problem using a drill, but my shop is non electric, so I have to carry items home.

Is there some sort of tool available which I can place my finished hooks into and punch a hole into the material say 1/16 thick? It is tough to align the punch with the hole in a punching block and then hold the punch, the work piece and hammer at the same time. The punch must be flat with sharp edges and the punching block in good shape to "cut" the material, forming a clean hole.

I have this battery cable crimper you set the cable end into and hammer on top of a plunger to crimp the end to the cable. There has got to be something like this to punch holes???

I punch a 1/8 inch hole into mild steel, sometime hot and sometimes cold.

Perhaps I'm just doing it wrong? A young student of mine replied "There MUST be an easier way!" when I showed him the method to punch holes into the end of a forged hook. I told him a "drill bit" but the smiths in the civil war didn't have a cordless drill!!

The clamp is a cast iron bracket set that toghtens against the beam frame and against the base of the blower gear box. It has a notch to coencide with the flare at the base of the gear box.

There is a long through bolt with one of them threaded handles like you see on the other parts of the forge.

There are two anvils in the shop where I work. BOTH have this same design which looks like a dimond on the center waist of the anvil's side. see below....... There are other stamping marks which I can only assume are letters in and around the dimond.........

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I am in East Central Ohio

Folks ask me what brands of avils I am using when they enter the shop to watch me work. I can only state that one is a general purpose 80lb London Pattern and the other is my 120lb farrier anvil.

My forge like the one above will easily burn-up a solid steel shaft of 3/4" dia. I doubt that air flow is a problem.

The blower shaft is threaded and has a key way. That alone is reason enough to make one believe that it simply cannot hold oil.

Do you have the clamps that fasten the blower to the forge frame? AS pictured, it would fall off.

I added a 1/4" steel plate to the bottom of mine, made a new (low profile) grate where the air passes through and added the blower shield like the original versions had.

I took mine down the the last bolt and screw to clean and paint. It looks almost like new with the fresh "high heat" gloss black.

I'll have to post up some pictures of it.

Thank you...........now I have even MORE research material I must study!!!!

......is there no end........

How much did hand forged nails sell for?

I was asked that question while at the forge at the historical society................

I informed the lady that I had read much about nail making, but never had seen a price.

I also stated, that it would depend upon the size of the nail, if it was made from new iron stock or used and that it would most likley be a barter for soemthiong else in return. Not to mention the time frame and the location of the smith selling/making the nails. I take it she meant the 1700 to late 1800's and in Ohio (?????)

How much did nails sell for?????

I made an anvil mounted (Bench)vice and began looking at this old leg vice. It has a cone/collar assy where the threaded shaft passes through (next to the handle) I don't see how you'd tighten it up as the entire assy is either supposed to be this sloppy or it has simply worn out. The cone tightens down into the bottom of the outter (movable) jaw and it won't be/can't be tight. I don't believe all of these leg vices could be of this design. This isn't right.

Anyone with a vice like this isn't going to like it. The jaws can't align themselves. I see no welds nor broken parts.I know of no manufacturing stamp marks.

I **AM** going to make this thing level as opposed to setting down-hill. There is slop in the mounting where the shims are placed an I can fix that with out too much problem.

It will at least look good for the visitors. The anvil mounted bench vice has tight jaws and in alignment. My work is much easier

I'l post up some pictures of my alignment retrofit to the leg.

That is a bit on the steep side for that set-up. I have one just like it and it works pretty well for some small decorative work. You'd have a tough time with longer sections like twisting the center section of a fire poker.

I didnd't pay near that and mine looked just the same.

The blower will take a good cleaning. See my tips on this web site under the solid fuel forge section.

The blower normally only needs to be cleaned and bearings adjusted. That .010 inch end play sounds a bit high. I have almost zero play and turns free w/o binding.

Use light oil to lube it and don't break anything!! You wont locate spare parts unless you buy another blower. The bearing balls are .020 or .025 if you'd need them. Don't loose any!

The outboard jaw moves left to right in relation to the stationary jaw. It is as if there was, at one time, a bushing inside the outter jaw where the screw passes. However, it is no more. I can't understand why there is so much movement.

I have taken apart a Champion blower gear box to gain a visualization of its internal workings, but have not taken apart the vice. I have to use the vice. The only one in the shop. If I could remove it and locate where the problem is with all this looseness and wear I may possibly repair/modify it if possible.

I'd need another vice. I put the word out to the historical society maint dept. and was told they have others just like the one in question.................

I don't really know what that means I'm thinking more of a large bench top vice. I don't need to beat on the vice with a sledge hammer like others appear to do. I think that is what the anvils would be for................????

Hi and WELCOME!

I'm new too. I had wanted to get into smithing and a little over a year ago, found that the Ohio Historical Society needed a smith in which to operate a blacksmith shop. I had zero experience. They didn't care!! Now I'm in charge of the shop and have it all to myself!! See pic I don't need to build a shop

Anyway, I was told to build my own coal forge and began construction. Obtaining pieces and parts. Welding/cutting etc.etc. I thought I was on the road to a home built/portable forge.

Then I started looking at the tons of old factory built forges and wondered why anyone would want to spend time and $$ to fabricate one........!!

I'd recommend buying an old forge and clean it up. Way better than trying to fab one from nothing.

Recently had a visitor to the shop who was a beginner. He was making knives out of car springs and chain-saw chain. I thought that odd as I soon found that he couldn't even make a nail!!!

So....go for it. Make what ever you like. I'd never try to forge weld a chain saw chain into a knife, but perhaps it is rather easy, I don't know. All he uses is a brake drum and a bath-room vent for the blower! :o

Hammer projects.

It is to the best of my limited knowledge, that all blacksmiths do have a section of RR track (a foot long or less)

It would really suprise me to learn different.

I don't have a true anvil of my own........I, ah...have to "borrow" one from the shop....... so to speak.

There is a dealer near me, by the way, who sells loads of anvils. The ones that look like a piece of scrap, say 60-70 pounds are 100 to 200 dollars. I'm not in the scrap business.

The good used ones; 60 to 100 pounds, that look like something are 300-400 and the new small anvils are at least 450 up

There is old track advertised for sale on e-bay and I had asked the seller if he had any kind of invoice to prove this track was purchased legally. He will cut any length of track you need.

He replied that he doesn't need to prove it was purchased as anybody can purchase new or old rail way track.

What are the legal complications, if any, by buying track or selling track that would appear to be used?

These really don't do any justice..............

The first problem you may see, is that the vice does NOT mount with the jaws parellel to the table top/floor. When you clamp an item in the jaw, it is angled back towards you. Not good. The mounting collar must be bent or they are "supposed to" mount with a noticable lean.

The jaws do not close together flush.
One jaws is hanging over to the south and the other to the north. However, I can align them becasue the outter jaw slides one way or the other!
The jaws are are curved (convext) to the point that they only touch in the middle. THus the jaws will not hold anything tightly

The big question is the fact that there are shims driven into the mounting plate and the cast steel body. They are all like this (from the ones I have seen)and these shims move around, thus the vice moves (pivots around) thus I question why anyone would want one of these. (the shims are driven in tightly, but offer play when you pull tightly on the handle to tighten the jaws)

I need to work over a "known good" leg vice to better develop my opinion of these. I can only do that if I used one in a shop. I simply cannot "use one" that is laying in the bed of some guys pickup truck who claims that it is a "known good leg/post vice" Simply looking at one doesn't work.

I use a leg/post vice in the blacksmith shop I work at for the Historical Society. I really must question why these things appear to be so durn popular. It is the worst thing to attempt to hold items with. Loose/wiggly/wobbly. And I'm performing production work with this thing.

I would guess that it is historically correct to have one in a blacksmith shop especially for the Historical Society. I really need a table top mounted vice that will grip items and not pivot and twist/move around on me.

I would hope they are not all like this. They can't be, otherwise everyone and his brother wouldn't be bragging how they found this really nice/old leg vice.

I have this super big (100+ pound) Wilton table vice the size of an anvil at the school which I work at. It also has an anvil on it, and it won't budge when you clamp it. The two jaws clamp squarly together!

What is the advantage of a leg vice? I must be missing something, or my leg vice is shy a part or two.........

..and, are these things historically correct in an 1830 era blacksmith shop???????????

Where/how do I get my T-Shirt and display stickers?????? B)

I have seen two blowers that had a hint of red. I have never painted one red. I cleaned one down to bare iron and never found any red. Nor black for that matter. Just crud.

The one rebuilt/painted for the Champion museum was painted a flat black. Looks good, except it was fitted with hex nuts. They never had hex nuts. I would have thought the museum would have been a bit more fussy about a restored blower on display...............

That blower shaft is keyed and threaded. Pretty tough to seal that.

The balls are .250 in.

This is the Ohio Historical Society blacksmith shop in ZOAR. I operate this shop on weekends.

I use soft coal and coke. I don't know who made this sheet steel smoke collector, but that is really worthless. It causes the cinders and smoke to "collect" around your head. In short, it retains the smoke and fly ash at head level. Really dumb idea. It has no vent to expell the smoke. Just holds it there. Never seen anything like it.

If this forge is like what the blacksmiths used back in the 1800's, it is little wonder they died at an early age. All the forges I have seen have a shroud to collect the smoke and fly ash and direct it up the pipe and OUT of the building. Did the original blacksmiths want to trap and retain the smoke/fumes???????


I do own my own forge which I will be happy to post up some pictures when I paint it. It is a portable unit made by Champion.

I do exactly as above. It depends upon the style of forge you have.

I **could** simply walk away from it and seperate the next day, but I prefer to take the fire apart at days end and clean out the trash in fire pot the following day prior to laying a new fire.

What I was explaining was the fact you don't need one. Leave it alone. Pull the fan then the REAR bearings. Pull the shaft out the FRONT and you won't need to mess with that 3 1/2 deep socket you can't find.

That works well, unless I missed something in your description.

I get mice in my slack tub. Smells pretty bad. :blink:

From my findings, these gear case blowers (400) are 8,10,12 and 14 inch.

There is a CD repoduction of the original catalog from Champion.