RogerrogerD

OK, no walls yet, I admit.  But I simply had to line up the chimney and to do that I needed the bellows too… 

And the roof is on. 

Things are never too bad if you have a forge and a hammer… 

Last month I switched over the handle, so I was able to pump the bellows from the same side of the forge that I work on.  Needed two of us to lift the bellows out, and the wrought iron bracket needed tweaking ( heat and a pair of pliers) . I expect to be using the bellows more in the future, but still have the electric fan hooked up to the forge as an alternate. i’m building a new smithy so needed a rethink.  You can see pics in the “show me your smithy thread”.  It’ll be interesting to see if a bit of use will affect the flexibility of the leather, one way or another.  I still think I’m lucky the bellows work without me having to pick apart the studs that hold the leather.  

Hi Ali.  The neats foot oil seems to be working Ok. Still seems reasonably flexible.  I recently patched a couple of minor holes with leather patches and some rubber cement. I was thinking about giving it another wipe down with the oil.  Is the leather on yours dry?

Thanks Alan, good advice. 

I don’t yet possess the compressor.  i’ll be getting it once the building is done. i suppose I’ll get a simple range of die grinders and angle grinders and stuff.  I might push the boat out if there ‘s any money left and get a plasma cutter. Or not… 

Picked up this nice grindstone this week. Trough was rusted away but fixable. it’s a “Follows and Bate”, my guess is at least 90 years old. The bird poop came with it for free. 

thank you. 
Running in  a single phase 240V 40A through a buried armoured cable.  My lathe will be run off a digital inverter. I intend to install a compressor for air tools, using 15mm copper pipe, because I hope it’ll look better than blue plastic pipe against the oak. 
You’ll note the left hand side has roofing felt but the right is deliberately without. You’ll see the underside of the tiles on that side - trying to make that side a little more traditional looking. At the far end, right hand side will be a lean-to structure for steels stock and forge fuel.

I’m never going to stray far…. ;-)

Going up slowly  Left side is the “clean” side. Lathe, machine tools, secure. Right side the “dirty side”. Forge, bellows, welding and grinding. 

Thanks Frosty

Main frame now up.  All oak…. 

 it will have this hooked up to the back, hopefully traditional enough. i’ll hide the electric fan 

Not any time soon. I already have a steel one that does the trick in my old smithy…Just going to hook that up to a chimney. 

The oak is bought in kit form from a British Company who get the oak from France, I understand.  “Oak Frames Direct”. They have given me good service

I’ll have a hood and chimney so should be Ok. Putting some form of board up is an option but slightly worried that it’ll give me more nooks amd crannies where a spark could get to. Plus it will detract form all the lovely oak, and also cost more… Thinking hard. i’ll be certainly hanging several fire buckets around, and will have a fire hose ready. Im looking at fire retardent clear paint for the oak, but not decided yet. Anyone tried that?  

No plans for woodworking… I don't find it as forgiving as metal bashing and I gain stress rather than losing it as I do when sticking things in the fire then hitting them hard with a hammer. The rain may be an issue here in UK, but since I regularly set fire to myself while forging, all I need do is walk outside for it to be extinguished…  so there is a silver lining to our rain cloud issue here.

seriously though, Im looking at methods to reduce the susceptibility of the wood building to fire. I suspect it’ll be keeping the place free from sawdust and wood chips, making sure there arent little corners of junk to catch light and other stuff.  

I’m building new forge and workshop here in UK.  Two halves, one “dirty” for forging, grinding, welding, etc, and next to it a metal workshop with lathe, drill press etc.  Dirty side with the forge will be open at the front, clean side behind doors and attractive tools stored there to be wheeled out when needed on trolleys.  It’s gonna be totally Oak frame oak rafters and oak weatherboard on a concrete pad. The size is equivalent of four bays - two on the right for the forge and two on the left for the clean workshop.  The forge side Im gonna try to keep traditional, with my 130 year old bellows hooked up to the forge, and my old smithy stuff. The clean side can be more modern and well lit. This is where we are so far, more pics to follow in coming days.  

I’d guess its about 100lb.   Hope that helps. 
 

You cant go wrong with a wire wheel and BLO. 

Picked up this Peter Wright blacksmith bench vice, Pre-1900, in a rusty old state. Restored, smartened up and now bolted with eight long bolts to a big chunk of ash wood. 

Well, I married a girl from North Norfolk, so....

Good luck with your restoration. Post some pics. Happy to chat any time. 

On 4/4/2021 at 4:27 PM, Honing Blacksmith said:

Could you let me know how much the weights way?

Tim.  the weights are about 14kg each. I assume you are on the kg side of the pond. One original cast iron and the second is a 12cm mild steel ball.  They seem to work.  Good luck. Hopefully you wont need to unpin the leather. 

On 4/3/2021 at 8:18 AM, RogerrogerD said:

No Peter Wright markings on it, 

I’m told that Peter Wright parallel bench vices weren’t marked before 1900, so that’s maybe a plus. I’d always followed the idea that post vices were for blacksmiths and bench vices for the rest, but this is clearly not cast iron, and clearly designed for smithing.