paragon53

Frosty, You were not far off about the bicycle parts. I was planning on using an old crankset and a freewheel hub. Not so much a 10 speed though. I don't think I would have enough room for a dearileur system to change the speeds. I would be using a 53 tooth crank and a 14 tooth cog on the fan shaft. Lee

I am just thinking and tinkering around about building a hand crank forge blower. I was wondering if any one out there has a good image of the gearing layout and perhaps the size of the gears / ratio. Thanks Lee

I can't remember if I read this on this forum or just surfing the web for info. But it was stated that Anthracite could add a little bit of carbon to the work? Lee

Thanks Lee

Just a quick question. I am in the process of building the forge. The Dimesions of the drum are 11" wide and about 6" deep. Nice bowl shaped drum. Probably off an older 1 1/2 ton truck. Rear drum. My question is for air flow. Would a small electric leaf blower be sufficient Vs. a hair dryer. Either would be controled via a speed control. Thanks Lee

Thanks for the information. Glad to have found this site. Hopefully by this weekend I'll have something together. Lee

I have an anvil. My brother gave me a #81 paragon anvil from Sweden. From what I have read this seems to be a nice anvil. Just a little small. So I'm on my mission of gathering tools and bulding a forge. I have also recently joined the local group of blacksmiths in this area. They seem nice and hopefully I will gather information from them. I have several old car brake drums around so I guess economically I 'll make a forege from one of them. I do have one question about coal. It is not that easy to locate hear. How much heat can I generate from lump charcoal. Looking forward to having some fun. Thanks Lee