Homemade forge with sewing machine base

[Neil Blythin]

I came across a very unusual, but very neat looking forge on Pinterest. It was built on the cast iron base from an old (treadle type) sewing machine. I've done a web search, but can only find this thing on pinterest now (the original blog that the photo links to is gone).

 

Anyways, I happen to love the idea, and also happen to have such a base from an old Singer machine ... so am thinking of building one. The one I saw a photo of had a hand cranked blower; but I'm thinking about finding some way of using the sewing machines original treadle and some kind of a foot powered blower. Perhaps operating an English round bellows or something like that.

 

Wondering if anyone has seen a forge like the one I'm describing (or have built something like it). I'd love to see some more photos other than the one photo I see over and over again online.  I'd also be interesting in hearing any feedback / ideas as far as a treadle operated bellows or blower.

 

I'm thinking of using this as a small portable forge for demos, where I usually burn charcoal (less smoke, or at least less obnoxious smoke), which means I wouldn't require much in the way of an air blast.

 

Cheers,

Neil

 

p.s. This is the photo that's sparked this idea. Again, the original blog that pinterest links to is gone, so no idea whose forge this is or where its from...

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Just run the hand crank blower like the sewing machine, and use a 90 degree air duct.

[Frosty]

Should be pretty easy to figure out where the pic was taken. CSI would ID the plants for elevation & season, sun angle would give rough long lat and the vehicle licenses would pin down the people or neighbors.

 

That taken care of. Treadle sewing machines were simple belt drive after the crank so all you should need to do is position the blower close enough to the crank and primary pully to hook it up.  A single twist in the belt will give you 90* angle drive if you wanted to mount the blower like they did in the picture. It'd sure be a fun project, wish you lived close enough to play too.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JimsShip]

CSI- "magnify the blade of grass 647th from the right wheel, there's a single twiddle bug egg.
Twiddle bugs only lay in Southern climates in early Summer, so given the rate of foliage growth this must have been taken in Tennessee sometime on May 12th"

If you do use the treadle, I would try and set it so you didn't have to sit at each heat. That would tired me out.

[Eddie Mullins]

Neat idea, pictures will be required of your progress of course.

 

I had not thought of use for a blower, but had wondered about using one for a grinding wheel or some purpose.

[Neil Blythin]

I will of course post photos of the build!

I don't have the time just at the moment, but am anxious to start on it soon. I've actually just dragged the sewing machine base out of storage today, ready to remove the top and see what I have to work with.

I'm aiming for a forge that's small and compact (the top not much beyond the footprint of the base), so that it'll lay flat in the back of my pick-up with the fibreglass tonneau cover closed. And I don't plan on tackling any big projects while doing demos, so it won't need to be much of a forge.

I'm still trying to figure out what I'll use as a blower. The only hand crank I have is a Royal Western Chief - which I think will be a bit big for what I want; and would also mean taking it off of my big coal forge every time I want to use the small one... So, we'll see. I'm currently watching Kijiji & CL to see if something smaller (and affordable) shows up in the next while.