Wow thats awesome. 

I'm not sure what those 2 extra holes are for either..  

I need some lead to punch the holes on.  I’ll let you know how it turns out when I start putting it together.  Don’t care a bit to make up a set for you. 

Well that is very generous..   Thank you.. 

Something to keep in mind..  These forges were put together without the fine tolerances  we think of today..  Basically some parts were drilled while held in place or in jigs that were lack luster..  

So just be careful when putting it back together.   

The person who fixed the forge before I got it put the firepot in backwards..  Why?? Not sure..  I watched how things aligned and did the round and round as I tightened fastners checking for binding. 

In the way back they used a lead putty that would stick together with pressure from the flanges.. 

When I did my trial run there was smoke pouring out from every hole I missed.. 

Do you have a recommended RTV for flat seams? 

No worries, I work on a plethora of things, some pretty old!  What are you wanting to RTV?  

The lead based putty is a no go. That stuff was amazing. 

 

Use it to stuff all the long flat joints. The system uses vacuum and then all the gases are pressurized. 

 

Any gap spews smoke. Looking to seal up every crack, seam or hole possible. 

The faces of my flanges are pretty smooth, I’ll have to see how these gaskets do.  Like you said put it all together and then start tightening things down.  Humm, I wouldn’t be opposed to leading leaky joints.  They do make a non lead alloy for people who like to use metal body filler like they used to do.  A high temp Rtv, I do have some loctite sealants too.  Just got some hot blueing a few of the bigger original nuts and bolts.  

I just looked, loctite makes a high temperature putty, but I’d say a good high temperature Rtv would work fine.  I know the recirculation line will get hot but shouldn’t exceed what a good sealant can withstand.  

The Loctite high temperature putty works very well. I used it to patch a crack in our propane furnace heat exchanger. It lasted about 5 years when the exchanger developed another crack in a different location and we had the furnace replaced.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

17 hours ago, JDW84 said:

I need some lead to punch the holes on.

I usually use the end grain of a piece of 4X4 or 6X6 wood to use as a backing for all my punching like leather work and automotive gaskets. It helps in keeping the punches sharp.

Yeah these gaskets where they have the stainless in them, does better on something a little harder.  The wood gives too much and the gasket kinda starts to delaminate.  The lead is soft enough that it won’t damage the punch if you go easy

JDW, curious about how the blade in that Allpax gasket cutter does with the stainless in the gasket material? Looks like a pretty robust gasket cutter!

--Larry

The stainless is so thin the razor cuts through it no problem.  There’s some similar material that has a little thicker metal in it and it’s a little tougher to handle with the hand cutter.  

Well got almost everything together, the only thing holding me out that I don’t like is blower outlet flange is about a half inch offset to lining up.  Also the blower to the gearbox needs some spacers between it to keep things from being in a bind.  If I’m not mistaken when I took it apart about 2 years ago it had washers stacked in between the blower and the gearbox on the bolts.  I’m thinking I’ll make a 3/8 spacer and another gasket to get the 1/2 at the flange going to the tuyere.  This should move the flange at the blower over 1/2 into alignment.  When I originally took it apart the flange that bolts to the fire pot was broken, and looking at this now it was probably in a pretty bad bind originally.  I may use the 2 pieces of the gasket material or make a brass spacer to go in between the blower and gearbox.  

great job. 

the alignment issues you  speak of are normal and the reason why I mentioned slowly tightening the bolts.. 

If the upright venturi or stack blower is centered in the hole you might be able to angle it some towards the blower with a spacer at the tuyere elbow on the firepot.  this would give you the needed 1/2" or close.   

And yes on the spacers behind the blower.. Firms up the connection between the blower and housing. 

I"m not really sure how they got away with such misalignments at the factory..  I guess that is why these downdraft units had to be special ordered. 

I guess it's my turn to resurrect this old thread again.

About 17 years ago, a buddy and I bought an huge collection of blacksmithing and woodworking tools from an estate. The man had died at 96 years of age, after collecting for more than 60 years. We hauled away literally tons of stuff - we had to rent a 24-foot box truck, and we loaded it to the point that the springs were resting on the bump stops.

There were about a half-dozen or more leg vises, a half-dozen or more post drills, I think about five or six anvils, a couple smaller forges, dozens and dozens of tongs, hammers, punches, swages, chisels, etc. Many axes, sledgehammers, etc. Also a bunch of steel stock, and lots of other interesting things, including several big galvanized cans and buckets full of coal. 

We cherry-picked what we wanted to keep and then spent the next year selling off everything else. The net result was that the stuff we kept was basically free, having been paid for by the proceeds of everything we sold.

One of the things I kept was this cool old Buffalo Forge. It was complete and without damage. I had to completely disassemble it to transport it, and when I got it home, I had nowhere to set it up, so I tucked all the parts and pieces away in a corner of my garage. I knew that someday, eventually, I would have someplace to set it up.

Then we moved, and I still had nowhere to put it, so I moved it into a shipping container at my business. Then I moved my business, and I moved all the parts into the warehouse. I managed to move everything without losing or damaging anything!

About three years ago, I built a workshop building behind my house. I gradually brought stuff home from my warehouse, including all the parts and pieces to the forge. A couple weeks ago, I decide it was stupid to have this awesome forge sitting in pieces and the time had come to bring it back to life.

I sandblasted everything and painted it with high-heat paint. Here I've drawn in a little coal fire, to get the idea.



Based on the information I found in a 1955 catalog at vintagemachinery.org, it is a Model 248. The only things I believe missing are the divider in the hearth, the bar that hangs off the front, and the butterfly valve that goes into the draft pipe that goes up the chimney. 

 

 

I discovered in trying to put it all back together that I believe I need some gaskets in the pipe that goes from the blower to the fire pot. I can't get everything to line up, and I think the thickness of those heavy cloth (asbestos?) gaskets likely will make the difference and allow everything to line up.

Does anyone know of a source for those gaskets? I have one, but I need a couple more - they're like the heavy cloth that is used in wood stoves and furnaces. 

The other thing I note is that the catalog says "clay hearths before using", so I guess I'll have to get some refractory cement.

Thanks!

Welcome aboard Bill, glad to have you. What a beautiful forge you rescued and kept all these years. Indeed it's about time you set that baby up and let her live again!

About your question, why YES I do know of a product that'll serve. Check with a wood, coal, etc. stove supply. What you're looking for is either stove rope or stove tape. The old versions were asbestos but the new stuff is safer. I just now did a web search for "stove rope" and got a few pages of hits. Wally World advertises a "flat self adhesive" stove rope and there are others. Meeco is a long time stove supply company and advertises numerous sizes and shapes of stove rope.

If you don't have a supply close by it's available online.

Anyway, the magic words are . . . Stove Rope. 

Frosty The Lucky.