Since late April I've spent multiple evenings and sometimes been out well into the next morning when my schedule allows figuring out exactly what happens when you ask a metalworker to do a carpentry and upholstery-adjacent project.
I also discovered my love for pneumatic staple guns.
This will hopefully become probably the largest functional Viking age forge in the country with a slightly anachronistic double lung bellow but we let that slide since having someone man the period accurate dual single lung bellows for the whole day at a week long festival could get rather boring after an hour or two.

the bellows have a circumference of 2.65 meters/8'8" and the distance from the top leaf to the bottom at full expansion is 82cm/32", I'm sure there are some formulas to plug these numbers into to figure out the volume but after a thorough eyeballing I estimate it to be...plenty.
The leaves and ribs are made from 18mm/ 3/4in plywood but the top leaf is clad with 38x100/ 1 1/2x4 planks to both make it look prettier and add some weight to it to increase the flow rate without stacking multiple hammers and tongs on top of it.
I'm aware the framework looks awfully crooked, the legs were intentionally made a little bit longer than I'd like so I could cut them level once everything is together as it should be.
The firepot will be 50x50cm/ 1'7"x1'7" but only about third of that will be for the coals, the rest will act as a table to keep tongs and other tools and it's currently filled up with a mixture of riverbank clay and super fine sand and drying out as we speak.
Once that's dry and I've got the nozzle and the bottom leaf and rib covered up with leather and nails to look the part and a hole carved into a sandstone chunk I had laying around somewhere it'll go with my re-enactment group to a Viking age festival down south near the capital of Iceland, it should only be a half-days work to wrap it all up assuming nothing catastrophic happens like the mice making a snack out of the leather like they did to most of the gloves and for some reason the rubber part of the TIG handle and the paraffin/linseed oil/graphite dust punch lube.

Dabb, that's pretty awesome, but I think you need to texture and weather that fresh wood.  Get a chainsaw and just rub the surface with it, creating a rough-hewn appearance, then rub a mixture of linseed oil, tar, and wood ash all over it, let dry, then lightly sand with 80 grit sandpaper, revealing the highlights. Drill some fake worm holes, and you're done! 

Just kidding.  I'd love to attend that Viking culture festival if this is how seriously you guys take it.  I was always told we (family and ancestors) were Scotch-Irish, but after a 23-and-me DNA test, I found out I'm 54% Scandinavian, 15% Greek, and 31% Welch.  I was excited until I found out that that lizard saliva resulted in 51% Ashkenazi Jew and 48% west Asian. 

Dabbsterinn, nice work. 

My granddad was temporarily stationed in Iceland just after WW2. He said it was the most beautiful country he had ever been to, loved it. So it is on my bucket list to one day visit your home. 

You're quite a wood worker Dabbsterinn though shouldn't the hide be tacked on rather than stapled? Truth is I LOVE pneumatic staplers from when I put roofs on. 

I look forward to seeing it heating iron.

Frosty The Lucky.

I had the idea to do it "properly" and tacking it on and the even thought of forging my own tacks briefly crossed my mind until I started calculating approximately how many tacks I'd need to cover all 5 segments so I went on the hunt for tacks for sale, found one guy who was willing to part with them for a fair price but it was still about the same price as the pneumatic stapler, a box of staples and a box of small round-headed SS nails and when you consider the time difference and ending up with a very handy tool, the choice was easy.
on top of that a problem that I've noticed in the bellows that the other re-enactors down south have is that after about two decades of use the tacks have started to work their way out of the wood and I believe the chances of the staples doing that are much lower, same goes for those nails I'm using thanks to the ribbed shank.
I highly doubt these will be the last bellows I make since we're 5 blacksmiths and blacksmith enthusiast in my local re-enactment group and we're only on our 1st year with 8 active members, I'm sure some beadmakers and foundryworkers will show up eventually so I probably should have written down my observations and hindsight enlightenments as I was doing this and for the next one I intend to start much sooner so I won't have to resort to "cheating" with the stapler since this needs to be ready to go by Tuesday, I believe I have it all wrapped up now and once the glue is dried up tomorrow (unfortunately not hide glue, haven't had the time to figure that out yet) I'll put everything together and get a video of the performance

Every job is an excuse for a new tool.

EXCUSE?!! Shhhh George people's significant other may be reading the forum! 

Projects REQUIRE new tools, requirements are always easier to convince the significant other of.

I built our house with those type nails Dabbsterin, we call them "ring shank" nails and being one to overkill when possible I bought Vinyl ring shanks. The vinyl is a coating of heat activated glue the friction of driving liquifies and they don't go anywhere. I've discovered you tend to break the heads off rather than pull them. 

Hopefully your reenactment group will gain a nail maker. Twisted square shank nails don't pull loose easily at all.

Pneumatic staples aren't likely to pull loose, they have greater surface area for the amount of wood they displace and the flat sides offer greater friction. Just don't overdrive them.

Frosty The Lucky.

Its allewys nice to see fellows bellows being made