Buffalo Forge

[Sargos]

There is one for sale locally...  the price is insane but...  I am a sucker and will probably go look at it. What are some problem areas I should pay attention to? It appears to have been left outside for a very long time and is part small pond and part bog...  surely cracks and depth of the rust will be a concern...  but what are the typical known trouble areas to check that a newbie like me would likely not be aware of?

[Kozzy]

Blower or no blower?  That makes a HUGE difference in price--basically from nearly scrap to actual forge pricing.  Bad blowers can be anything from easy fix to impossibly broken gears so if it has a blower, DON'T assume it will be an easy fix unless you are POSITIVE about the problems.

Broken cast iron forges are a dime a dozen...easier to build something from scratch than do more than superficial repairs on badly broken cast.  Check for cracks:  A short crack often can be bridged as a repair but if it leads toward a bad break waiting to happen, skip it.

Sheet metal forges tend to have near terminal rust unless cared for.  Don't be fooled into thinking a repair isn't going to be all that bad--rust hides.  Again, if it's more than superficial you could probably build one from scratch easier and cheaper than trying to fix a dog.

Patience is your best friend.  Walk away from over-priced stuff unless it is so good that the price is pretty-much justified.  Another [often better] option WILL come along--NEVER forget that, even if you get the itch really bad to have it now.

Tuyere's get eaten away and are hard to replace/repair on some forges.  People often ignore this detail because they are focusing on the firebox area so don't take a good look down the throat.

Most tube legs are no problem to replace if bent up but the mounting points are the real problem:  A broken out mounting point on the forge can be a pain to find a work around.

If the seller thinks they have a gem when they have a junker, walk away with a polite "thanks but it's not for me" before any head-butting starts.  Not worth any aggravation or haggling over that big a perception difference.

[Sargos]

Thank you Kozzy, that is exactly the information I was looking for. Yes it has a blower, however the seller has mentioned that the "tube" it attaches to is cracked. I have a feeling that tube might really be the tuyere, I will take a good look and get some pics.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Many forges have cast iron piping between the blower and the forge. 

Depending on the style, the majority of the value is in the blower, a forge can easily be fabbed up from whatever is laying around.

Most rivet forges I see are around $100....when they are in good shape.

If it is busted up, look at for just the blower value.

[ThomasPowers]

Remember that thousands of these were sold cheap back in the days when you were still plowing by horse power many places. The 1897 Sears and Roebuck catalog had a slogan "every Farmer his own smith" and farms were *small* (If you go back far enough; an acre used to be the amount of ground you could plow in a day...)

They are not the best way to go for many types of smithing being shallow and underpowered---many of the really small hand crank blowers are a pain compared to the big ones where you could crank it a good turn and walk away to get a tool instead of cranking, cranking, cranking, cranking to try to get the fire up.

When sold as "antiques" they are often not being priced as using tools.  As mentioned a good blower would be about 80% the value of the system in my opinion.  

[Sargos]

Thanks again Thomas, I will take a look closely at it... but his $1k asking price is sounding more and more insane.

[ThomasPowers]

Frankly I'd probably not bother with it for 1/10 that!

[Kozzy]

Wow--that's a steep price.  Maybe 1 in 5000 excellent-shape forges would be of the heavy commercial type which might justify that kind of pricing but the odds are way against that.  Those are so rare I can't even find a good picture of one to use as an example.

[Sargos]

No, the vice isn't included at that price.  But it sure isn't going to win any beauty contests.

That price might be right if those pinecones get included tho...