Billyhorse11

There is not much room above the pulley but I can try rigging up a shield to put on it while it is cooling down...because I can't keep the belt moving then.

I have firebricks and around collecting dust so I'll try them first, if it does not work out I will do something less permanent like the mortar.

Thomas, that is exactly what it is. I'll try to find something to go over the bottom with. That sounds like it should work. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. It might be worth a look, but I bet it will be permanently rusted on. A hack saw can take care of that if need be. The forge is not in what you would call great shape, but I would like to use it til it falls completely apart...I'll just hope I am not beside it when that happens. I'll see how hard it would be or if it would be worth it to "customize" with your idea.

I was wondering what you guys would use for belt to go from the pulley to the blower on a small, rivet forge. It had a rotten leather belt on it when I got it, I replaced that with a temporary fabric one, then another fabric one when that melted. Last night I replaced it with a leather belt, that I thought could not melt, I guess I was wrong... the belt burnt most of the way through in one place and cupped almost the whole length in just an hour and a half. I kept it at least slowly moving the whole time so it would not heat up in one place too much. I removed the belt from the large pulley wheel before I went inside for the night, but I could not remove it from the blower end because of some braces that hold the little pulley. If fabric does not work and neither does leather, what do I use? thanks

Not sure I can get the blower open. Not without breaking it at least. The blower seems to turn well enough on its own anyway. The hard turning could be in part from my crude, homemade belt. The ends of it were not tapered together.

I picked up new hardware to hold it together, l'll put it together later.

Hey guys, I found a forge over the summer and just got around to playing with it a few weeks ago. Information from this website and others tells me it is a Buffalo "rivet forge"... or something...I guess. I have no idea how old it is but it was in the basement of a barn for a long time. When I first got it it didn't look like it was in too bad shape, the bottom of one leg is rusted to pieces, and it needed a good cleaning. As well as a new belt. A few weeks ago I finally bought some coal and tried it out. Worked great, no problems at all. The next weekend I lit it up again to attempt some tongs...utter failure. First off it was acting a little funny, when I pumped the handle it only seemed to "catch" and turn the blower in the last little bit of the push. After a little bit it became harder to pump, enough so I was worried about breaking the handle off. It got to the point that I had to spin the pulley by hand before the handle would move. That is when I learned my first real lesson, don't let anyone else touch your forge. My old man came over said he could make that handle move, he almost ended up with a full pan of hot coal on his legs when two of the legs came off the ground. About that time me and my better half (that is, the one finished side of the tongs) called it quits. Before I closed everything down I looked under the forge, where the pan and blower connect, I could see right up though into my coal. Next morning when I cleaned it out I found cracks from all the bolts that hold the blower to the pan. my blower, just as I expected was ready to fall off as well. Sorry for the long prelude to my question. I was wondering if it is worth or even safe to fix and use this thing. I read in an earlier thread that I could weld the cracks but I'm not sure it would be worth it, the pan is so warn out anyway and the blower does not look much better. What do you think, should it be retired to a flower planter? or a birdbath? Or can it be saved? There are some pictures here Thanks, AW