I recently bought a coal forge and blower for my father several months ago for a Father's Day / retirement present. He has always expressed interest in black smithing when he retired, so what a better gift could you give.
I restored the blower and thought I would share some pics of it. The blower was in bad shape and had not been used in about 30 years. The babbet bushing and shaft was shot and some of the gears were worn badly. I am not a machinist but my dad is so I tricked him into helping me, telling him it was a side project for a friend on mine. We had to make new brass bushings for the gear box, welded up the shaft and turned it down. After about 4hours of machine work (with my dad's help) and another 4 hours of polishing the gears, shafts, and setting the end play on the shafts, I finally got it done.
I sandblasted the blower and then painted it. After I got everything assembled I started hand painting all of the raised lettering which took about 9 hours. I'm a little bit ocd I guess. I wanted it to be perfect for him. The blower works better than new and the gear box runs smooth as butter. I was pretty excited about the project and wanted to share my story and maybe it will give someone an idea on their next restoration. Hope everyone enjoys the pics. Sorry I couldn't get the pics to rotate.
