Hi gang!! I am brand new to the forum, and am in the process of building my first forge. I am looking for a hand crank blower, but cannot seem to find any new ones...only antiques. Does anyone manufacture new hand crank blowers? I saw one at a blacksmith supply site, but can no longer find it on that site or any other. Any help would be greatly appreciated.. Hope to become a regular member of the smithing community!! :D

I was just thinking that a cheap chinese copy of an old Buffalo rivet forge blower would be extremely popular if it could be had for $25. Fat chance.

John at Blacksmith Supply carries new ones.
Travis

Have a look at Centaur Forge. They have blowers and may be a source of crankers.

i am new here and i made 4 diffident forges so far but, i cant find a cheap yet reliable blower. please help thank you .

Please post your location using the "CP" at the top, someone near you may have one.

I would say the "old" ones are just as reliable as long as you find one in good shape and take care of it.

I built a hand crank blower I was in the same boat. There is a pic under my photos. It has to be reworked looking not high enought gearing. Looking at a bellows you can make one out of plywood, canvis, and rubber roofing paint pretty inexpensively. Granger has a dayton blower #99080464 it is Electric I have used the same one for the last 5 years works great and for $65.00 you cant beat it

thank you very much I live near Cleavland Ohio. The name of my suburb is Bavillage. I made a bellows , it works but, does not give enough air. i wish i could show a photo but, i do not have a camera.

Do you know any furnace repair people or plumbers? Ask them for a working electric blower from a junked power vent furnace or water heater (should get it for free if you hunt around). Rig up a blast gate like you would find in a wood shop dust collection system in the duct so you can regulate the airflow nicely (and quickly). I've seen a setup where they added a remote cable control (like you would use to operate a manual choke on an older car) so it was easier to shut off the air flow.

I knew one guy who used an Electrolux vacuum cleaner for a blower - it was very quiet.

Someday I will have the contacts and funds to get a "real" hand-cranked blower, but I was looking for some "home-grown ingenuity" and read this article: http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/JF/JF_VE/SMALL/04-110.pdf
if you go to the bottom half, you can make your own that should work okay till you can properly outfit a shop. (thanks again Ruben for the link).

Every time I read through this thing I keep seeing a new offshoot for te famous 55-forge

thank you very much

There are a lot of new electric blowers, AC and DC but I have yet to find a good HAND crank blower less than about 60 years old. I am told Buffalo or Champion made some blowers to bring fresh air into basement Fallout Shelters in the 50's and 60's but I have yet to see one for sale.

Look what I found: 404 link removed
Too bad somebody couldn't get an import license and buy a hundred of these things and take orders for them. Hmmmmm.....?

thank you I do know a plumber who might give me a hot water heater blower.

those blowers look cheaply made. i would avoid them but they probably will work. also arent we all for locally made products, bein blacksmiths and all? well just my two cents worth

New Guy, yep they look cheap enough that beginners could actually afford one. As for locally made products, well, there just aren't any domestically produced hand crank blowers made any more. That is the problem.

touche, but i was making a joke about locally made assorted things like wall hooks and door handles, not blowers. but i am a fan of an old hair dryer or even a pair of bellows. but a hand crank blowers like those will probably work. well good luck with your smithing and so forth to all.

i do not know if the those hand crank blowers will work . can anyone help me decide if they will work?

Edited May 22, 200917 yr by [email protected]
bad gramer

Will what work? The hot water bath heater blower? The question is not will it work but will it work in your application and can you get it hooked up so that air is delivered to your forge.

A leaf blower would work and so would a hair dryer. A vacumm cleaner will work also.

A few years ago I went to a thrift store, like a salvation army, bought a trashed out vacumm cleaner that still ran, took the motor and fan out, put it a ply wood box and had a blower that would have powered a irom making cupola. I had to keep it dialed way down. think I had $10 in the whole thing.

 

While we are on the options available don't forget the Japanese Box Bellows shown on 404 link removed

Simple to make from scrap plywood and effective.

Cheers

did you make a bow bellows or did you just hear they were effective ?

Box bellows ducky? I haven't built one but have used several made by friends and yes they work well and can be built very cheaply.
Finnr

I was hoping that I could find a hand cranker so that I could move my forge and anvil back into my shed every day when I am done. I dont want it to be too bulky, so a bellows may be a bit cumbersome. I see those Chinese blowers that someone linked, but I cannot find a price on one. I cant seem to find a reasonably priced antique locally either. I would really rather buy something American anyway. Kind of stinks that no one has made any new kind of blowers. Oh, and I am trying to avoid electric as well currently. Want this to be manual all the way. Any suggestions on a place that may have some antiques for sale...other than local farm sales etc?

I found this link. Do you guys/gals think this would be sufficient?

oops.