This is quite an amazing blower, IMO, and evidentally pre-dates the Champion blowers.

It's missing the leather belts, but is very nice. No, not mine, belongs to the smith over at Ardenwood Forge, but he would sell it if someone was really interested. Shipping couldn't be cheap though as it is pretty heavy.

(linky pic)



I love those wheels! :cool:

Nice indeed! I love the look of the old wheels and stuff like that, espcially the old wheel blower forges that were like one part. They remind me of old sewing machines.

There is a drawing of one of these in "Practical Blacksmithing" by MT Richardson but I have never seen one in my travels looking for this kind of stuff.

Nice indeed! I love the look of the old wheels and stuff like that, espcially the old wheel blower forges that were like one part. They remind me of old sewing machines.

Yeah, I just love those wheels also. Older band saws that were built to run off flat belt systems will often have those ornate cast wheels on them.

BTW, I thought that old blacksmith equipment fall from the sky back east! Out here on the west coast it's rare to find too awfully much of it, even when I search on ebay, much of it is back east where most of the blacksmiths were gathered in the early cities of the U.S. I guess they didn't like carrying anvils and such over to the west coast!

That stuff is nice, yes indeed.

There is a drawing of one of these in "Practical Blacksmithing" by MT Richardson but I have never seen one in my travels looking for this kind of stuff.

First one I've seen. Scott offered it for sale, and if I had a covered smithy, I would consider it. It just looks so cool!

Alan
As you noticed there are a lot of blacksmithing tools back east.
Im from Virginia and have seen approx 7 or 8 of that same type blower in my travels
Mike

Alan
As you noticed there are a lot of blacksmithing tools back east.
Im from Virginia and have seen approx 7 or 8 of that same type blower in my travels
Mike

Mike,

How much do they typically go for back east?

Out here on the west coast it's rare to find too awfully much of it..

Amen! Some of its out there, but it sure is hard to find. When every I look on eBay it's like 95% east coast...

Amen! Some of its out there, but it sure is hard to find. When every I look on eBay it's like 95% east coast...

It amazes me how much anvils go for, when a decent one is on the west coast. All forging tools in general are less plentiful. But anvils are at a premium without a doubt. I did find an anvil, but it was tired and could use a little work to flatten the top...(will do in time).

I can't complain about the price though, since it was just over $1/lb which seem pretty unheard of on the west coast.

Remember the scrap iron drives of WW2 for the war effort. A lot of the old tools went into ships and armament. I know they did around here. A lot of history went the way of the scrap iron drives.

There are many accounts of a complete set of smithing tools dumped from wagons on their way west, along with many antique household goods that were too heavy for the wagons, Food stuffs was more valuable than personal belongings and if you check what was needed for the trip. There wasn't much room for other personal things as there was no resupply point between the starting and destination points. Shipping from the East where all the factories where was also prohibitive. A good source of old tools is old mining communities I think.

Remember the scrap iron drives of WW2 for the war effort. A lot of the old tools went into ships and armament. I know they did around here. A lot of history went the way of the scrap iron drives.

Yep, that was unfortunate. In some cases they did make new tools out of them. I have a table saw built in 1944 which weighs about 1600 lbs, most all cast iron. Almost the end of the war (WWII).

There are many accounts of a complete set of smithing tools dumped from wagons on their way west, along with many antique household goods that were too heavy for the wagons, Food stuffs was more valuable than personal belongings and if you check what was needed for the trip. There wasn't much room for other personal things as there was no resupply point between the starting and destination points. Shipping from the East where all the factories where was also prohibitive. A good source of old tools is old mining communities I think.

Even to this day, while anvils are not as abundant as they once were, there are more back east, and once again shipping is a deal breaker in many cases. There are folks back east hording some of the anvils. There was a guy on the owwm forums a while back that owns more than 250 anvils...geez, talk about obsession...he also own the rights to the Fisher stuff. His name is Josh Kavett. Kudos to him, he has a complete line of Fisher anvils, from the smallest all the way up to an 800+ lb. monster.

IM back east and I guess that I could be accused of hording things
I have 22 anvils from 25lb to 560lb / 13 post vises, various styles of hand crank blowers,hand crank post drills,pedal grinders,swage blocks and on and on.
I just cant help it ( I think it is a genetic default that I have ) I cant seem to let one pass when I find it , especially if it is a decent price.
I dont do this for a living but I am a proffesional amature.
Mike

IM back east and I guess that I could be accused of hording things
I have 22 anvils from 25lb to 560lb / 13 post vises, various styles of hand crank blowers,hand crank post drills,pedal grinders,swage blocks and on and on.
I just cant help it ( I think it is a genetic default that I have ) I cant seem to let one pass when I find it , especially if it is a decent price.
I dont do this for a living but I am a proffesional amature.
Mike

Mike,

I wish I was back east, I would be doing the same most likely.

I'm happy with living on the west coast though, so no complaints from me...ok, a small complaint to have more smithy tools is valid, but it's not the end of the world.