Jack Underwood Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I built a break drum forge and have been interested in blacksmithing for quite some time. with that said i cant find a hand crank blower for an affordable price. everything on Ebay is $150 or more. any advice and help would be amazing. thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Depends. What kind of fuel are you burning? How big is the stock you want to forge? Why hand-cranked? There are a LOT of threads on IFI that address your question. Invest some time in reading them; even if you don't find the answer you need, you'll be in a much better position to ask the right questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou L Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 If you are using charcoal or bituminous just get a cheap bathroom vent fan, use a slide or ball valve to limit it and be done with it. It's cheap and effective. You can switch to a hand crank as soon as you find one. If you are using coke or anthracite give up on your dreams of a hand cranked forging experience because you need continuos air with decent pressure. Ask me how I learned this the hard way.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 X2 on the bathroom fan. I use the one from HD for about $16. I very seldom run the air gate wide open. Brake drum forge, coal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 First of all: WHERE ARE YOU AT? Or are you willing to pay International Shipping and Duties on a hand crank blower? Over 100 different countries participate here on the World Wide Web. Next if you will be anywhere near Quad-State in about a month there will be dozens of hand cranks for sale. I once built a double lunged bellows pretty cheaply, (didn't use leather), that I liked better than a hand crank but it sure took up a lot of space. Also here in the USA super efficient furnaces usually have a blower on them for exhaust help and when they yank a furnace it's hardly ever because that blower is bad, make friends with a local HVAC and ask about their bone pile. Lastly cars have blowers in them for their heating systems, often with nice preset speeds and run off of 12 VDC with is pretty easy to get... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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