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I Forge Iron

Hair Dyer Blower?


AndrewB

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  Okay so I have an old hair dryer I've seen many people do this on You Tube and what not.  The hair dryer I have how ever only blows out hot air.  Whether or not it is on high or low setting.   Its a smaller hair dryer but it pushes out more air than my shop vac did on the test.  So with that being said keeping it short sweet and simple.  Will it be a problem using a hair dryer as a air supply source to the forge if it blows only warm and hot air?  Thanks.

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I'm sorry but the hair dryer is a blower so that reads "The blower is only a temp use until I get an actual blower"

perhaps you meant a "better" blower or one that doesn't need electricity, or one that is more robust, or...

People get stuck in a mindset when they start thinking that there is only one right way to do things, only the London pattern anvils are *real* anvils, only using coal is real smithing, etc.  Now wanting to use a specific type of equipment is quite OK if you are willing to accept the limitations that puts on you; but don't push off your wants onto the poor inanimate objects...

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Car aircon fan make for good blowers. A visit to the car wrecker may give you a beter blower.

A better alternative is a Dayton Blower 1TDN5 that sells for $54. 

I think that the wages for the human blowers would make the workshop unfeasible. :ph34r:

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6 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

You could go with "traditional" blacksmithing blower(s) and get a group of ancient egyptians wearing their kilts and blowing through tubes into the charcoal fire... (Nice picture of this in "Egyptian Metalworking and Tools" )   (even I consider that "old school"!)

blowing through a tube, the original "double lung" bellows!

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4 hours ago, Marc1 said:

A better alternative is a Dayton Blower 1TDN5 that sells for $54. 

I have used a Dayton 1TDN6 over 4 years and it's been great.  Honestly I lucked into it for free from a friend through the TPAAAT method before I even knew it had a name. I like the blower so much I'd buy another IF it dies. 

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Andrew, I was just looking at your other threads and I'm wondering if you've decided on the fuel you are going to use? The type of air supply can be dependant on the fuel. Charcoal needs air only when you are heating metal, so manual blowers or bellows are not going to waste fuel like continuous electric powered blowers. However coke requires continuous air or the fire will go out between heats, so electric is the way to go. Different types of coal burn differently as well and so will affect the choice too.

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I have used a blower/injector fan from an oil furnace with a built on air gate for  years that I got for 5$ at a yard sell where the people switched over to electric heat and the fellow had enough thought to salvage some of the parts from the oil furnace. There were some pictures in the gallery long ago. I have a coal forge. 

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12 hours ago, 4elements said:

Andrew, I was just looking at your other threads and I'm wondering if you've decided on the fuel you are going to use? The type of air supply can be dependant on the fuel. Charcoal needs air only when you are heating metal, so manual blowers or bellows are not going to waste fuel like continuous electric powered blowers. However coke requires continuous air or the fire will go out between heats, so electric is the way to go. Different types of coal burn differently as well and so will affect the choice too.

Fuel will be coal propane and propane accessories are a bit too dangerous...

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Andrew, do you have a source for good smithing coal? Not all coal is equal. NWBA has a member who sells coal Coke and charcoal. You can use coal from other places but some types take more fire management, won't coke decently or produce excess clinker.

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Washington state should be a good location for andesite which is an igneous rock somewhere between the basalts and rhyolites; tends towards volcanoes that go BOOM.

The primary fuel for blacksmiths is Bituminous Coal, AKA soft coal. Hard coal, AKA Anthracite, can be used but it doesn't coke up and is harder to light and keep lit.  Coke can also be used as that's what we are really using when we burn bituminous coal. And of coarse charcoal, the real stuff not briquettes, has been used to forge iron for 3000 years or so.

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I've used a relatively unmodified hairdryer as a bellows before; the issue is directing the air. I've drilled holes into a pipe and stuck a male PVC socket onto the end, which matches a female PVC socket taped to the mouth of the dryer. cap off the end of the pipe and stick it under the coal, and you're good to go!

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