cere19 Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Just started making my forge today, I'll be taking my time while building it. Today I made my fire pot which is 11.5" x 8.5" and 3" deep. I always like looking at others builds so I will try to update this as I build it. Need to keep my eye open for a hand crank blower, otherwise I'll be making everything else myself. Going to be using coal from the local guild that I took my beginner Blacksmith class at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 How thick is the plate you used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 Plate is 1/2" thick while the top lip is 1/4" thick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 That should be OK. Make sure you devise a clinker breaker. Makes life easier. Don't go for slots. You can cut a round hole in the base and have the clinker breaker shaft between the fire pot and the tuyere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 What Marc1 said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 Thanks for the suggestions for the clinker breaker. I was leaning towards one but that just solidified it. I was thinking along the same lines by cutting a round hole and then putting the handle right at the top of the tuyere. Just need to figure out what size to make the tuyere now. Also need to figure what type of material to make the clinker breaker out of and how big to make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted November 2, 2018 Author Share Posted November 2, 2018 Found a Buffalo Forge hand crank blower on Craigslist the guy says it spins. What do you think would be a fair price for it? He's asking $150 and I'm planning to meet him after work tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Without having it in hand, hard to tell about the price. If it spins without any bad noises or skipped teeth on the gears $150 isn't outrageous. Because it's missing the stand I would haggle with him about it $75 would be a lot better. Stands can be easy to fabricate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted November 2, 2018 Author Share Posted November 2, 2018 51 minutes ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said: haggle with him about it $75 would be a lot better. Stands can be easy to fabricate. Thanks Irondragon I was planning to try and get him lower on the price. I didn't even realize it was missing the stand which is a good point. Does anyone know what model this blower is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Perhaps a 98? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted November 2, 2018 Author Share Posted November 2, 2018 I was thinking 98 was the year it was made as in 1898. It looks like a larger size blower. Looking at pictures of Buffalo blowers on the internet the smaller blowers have a fixed length for the crank handle. Where as this one has an adjustable handle length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 I don't recall any of them being date stamped; but I'm not an expert on them. I do know that I have moved handles from one blower to another to suit myself... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 From the pictures in an old Buffalo Forge catalog, I'd say it's a model 200 but could be wrong. The blowers listed with forges are 200, 400, 500 along with a lot of electric blowers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted November 3, 2018 Author Share Posted November 3, 2018 Well I bought it for $120,it's heavy and spins pretty well. One thing I noticed is the fan blade has play in it because it was hitting the inside of the blower case. I split the case last night and the fan blade shaft has some play where it goes through to the gearbox. I took the handle off as well and pulled the gear case cover. Both sides had a lot of old pretty dried up grease, I'm going to work on cleaning it up and see about getting it apart. I have a couple screws as well as the fan blade stuck on the shaft. I will be using pb blaster and giving it time to do it's thing to work it's way in. One thing I did notice is both on the fan blade where it mounts to the shaft as well as a part in the gearbox they are both missing a set screw to hold them in place. I'll take some pictures as I have more time to work on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevomiller Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 If the shaft runs directly in bore in the case without bushings, and they are oversized by wear, I’ve polished the shafts and used the smallest drill that would true the bore in the case. Used brass shim stock rolled into a bushing to fix it. Another one was really beat, I drilled it ou to tak a standard sized bronze bushing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 I got it all apart today and got all the old grease cleaned out. I think it was worked on before because 2 screws for the gears cover were hex head. Also on 2 of the shafts it looks like they used shim stock to take out any slop. Overall it appears to be in good shape and should go back together good. I also noticed one of the fan blades was closer to another fan blade so I bent it back slightly too make the spacing even, it might've been bent enough towards the outside that that was the noise of the blade hitting the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Fan blade should show wear on the edge if it was rubbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 I've made some progress on my forge in the past couple of months, here's some pictures of the updated progress. I was able to drill a 2-1/2" Diameter hole in the bottom of my firepot as well as the piece of plate of my tuyere that will bolt to the bottom of the firepot. I also drilled and tapped 4 holes in the bottom of my firepot for the tuyere to be bolted up from the bottom. There's also a picture of my tuyere welded up, you will see there's a slot I ground in the tuyere mounting plate. I'm going to run a piece of 1/4" round through there for my clinker breaker handle. My clinker breaker will be one of the hole slugs that I drilled out and ground down for approximately 1/4" gap around the outside of the clinker breaker to the edge of the hole in the bottom of my firepot. I need to make brackets and fab the ash dump at the bottom of the tuyere next time I work on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silo house Dan! Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 what type of coal r u planning on using? I just checked your profile out. Are you talking Kens custom? I'm there in February! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted February 2, 2019 Author Share Posted February 2, 2019 On 1/24/2019 at 2:58 PM, deletemyprofile said: what type of coal r u planning on using? I just checked your profile out. Are you talking Kens custom? I'm there in February! I'm planning on using coal from the local guild, they have a pile at the school of horseshoeing that I took my intro to Blacksmithing Class at. I looked at Ken's Custom for classes but they were filled up and I wanted to start learning right away. Maybe in the future I'll head up to a class up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 Wow this project got put on the side burner while building a house and now getting back to it. Hopefully I have it up and running shortly and not another year and a half break. Got the basic shape of the forge stand built and bolted the tuyere on. I need to finish the clinker breaker which will be attached to a rod that goes thru the channel I ground out in the tuyere's top lip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted November 5, 2020 Author Share Posted November 5, 2020 Worked on it today and believe it's ready for it's first fire. The blower puts a good amount of air up into the pot thru the tuyere. You can't see it well but the 1/4" round rod coming down just above the ash dump handle is the clinker breaker handle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 OK now stick a "dummy workpiece" into the fire pot and hold onto it as you crank the blower. So how does that work for you? I'm right handed and so crank with my right hand so I don't have to change out my tong holding hand---much faster and easier to grab the hammer handle on the way to the anvil than mess with tongs! You may also be working the piece with the tongs, pushing it in and out to have a wider hot area, rotating it if it's a billet for forge welding, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Ditto what Thomas says. You can learn a lot about and modify things without lighting a fire. Cranking the blower with your hammer hand is a valuable bit of advice. Thinking about modeling the layout without lighting a fire has me thinking about doing it before I cut the first piece of steel to build it. You've put a good looking forge together even if it's not laid out the way I'd prefer but that's a matter of experience and taste. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cere19 Posted November 7, 2020 Author Share Posted November 7, 2020 (edited) On 11/5/2020 at 10:56 AM, ThomasPowers said: OK now stick a "dummy workpiece" into the fire pot and hold onto it as you crank the blower. So how does that work for you? On 11/5/2020 at 1:01 PM, Frosty said: Ditto what Thomas says. You can learn a lot about and modify things without lighting a fire. Cranking the blower with your hammer hand is a valuable bit of advice. That's good advice from the both of you, after reading the responses I went out and tested it out. Troubles is I'm left handed so I use my left hand and setup the blower to crank with my right hand. Thing is though the blower itself I feel is designed for right handed people and feels goofy to crank with my left hand. Edited November 8, 2020 by Mod30 Trim quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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