JHCC Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 No need for a gate with bellows or a manual blower; just change the speed with which you pump or crank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 I used a double lung bellows on a bottom blast forge for about 20 years. Didn't use an air gate; the tuyere was sized to provide a good blast and if I needed more I would add a weight to the top board of the bellows. (Usually a hammer.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 21, 2023 Share Posted December 21, 2023 A year or two or three or??? Ago someone told a story here on IfI about a Boy Scout troop that was having a forge day and broke for lunch and when they came back and cranked on the forge there was an explosion from the built up gas in the coal forge does anyone remember that or am I imagining that story? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted December 21, 2023 Share Posted December 21, 2023 That rings a faint bell but that is all. I have had gas accumulate in the air line, ignite, and flash back through the blower with a "whoomph!". I wouldn't think that the air line on a forge would be confined or tight enough to explode with a bang and coal gas is a pretty low order fuel which would not have a very fast ignition speed. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted December 21, 2023 Share Posted December 21, 2023 May 4, 2016, Forge Explosion! by rwolfe, see below. It was after banking with green coal, which would create a bit more coal gas. I had a couple of little ones before, nothing like the violent ones they described. The one that's really gotten me a couple of times was water on the anvil popping off iron scale. It's fun...when you do it on purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 15 hours ago, Nobody Special said: May 4, 2016, Forge Explosion! by rwolfe, see below. It was after banking with green coal, Thank you! That’s the one I was looking for, I’m having an interesting conversation with someone who says coal forges don’t produce gas and another fellow chimed in and said that the gas doesn’t explode personally I’ve never had a really violent explosion out of one but I know that it’s always possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 I used to deliberately back the blower up a quarter-turn in order to produce mild explosions, back when I was young and foolish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 I should know better by now not to let myself get drawn into silly online stuff lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 What's silly about a forge popping and blowing a few burning embers out of the forge? Mine never blew large pieces out but on rare occasions it blew big fat sparks a good ways. My exhaust flap cap, ash dump solved any problems with anything blowing out of the fire. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 John exactly i shouldn’t have got involved in the first place Jerry thats what I was saying is that the dumping ash gates were designed to relieve pressure instead of stuff blowing out I mean obviously a little rivet forge probably wouldn’t build up enough gas to do anything more then pop and most table forges probably wouldn’t either but the larger industrial forges and big fire pots with big tuyeres can trap a lot of gas and have the potential to throw out some hot coal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 This is the point in the conversation where Thomas would point out that large bellows were often suspended from the ceiling, both to save space and to keep the heavier-than-air coal gasses from settling in their tuyeres and blowing out their sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Any blowback I've had goes back thru my hand crank blower(Champion 400). Thats actually the path of least resistance for the little blowback there is. I suspect its more of a carbon monoxide/dioxide buildup than anything else, but thats just my speculation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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