Does anyone know where to get great bellows? On Ebay I've seen some, but their usually REALLY expensive.

I may make one (I've been looking over blueprints and such), but I would like to consider buying first.

Thanks!:D

They're going to be hard to find. Get Heath's book How to Make a Blacksmith's Bellows. I believe it is available from Centaur Forge.

I lucked into finding one from a guy selling out. He hadn't used it in years and either squirrels or mice had gotten to it. I'm having to rebuild the ribs and recover it, but still easier than starting from scratch.

Here are some plans for bellows

BP0127 Bellows Construction



Guru - Bellows

Bellows

Edited November 26, 200817 yr by UnicornForge

Here are some plans for bellows

BP0127 Bellows Construction

BP0141 Bellows Construction

Guru - Bellows

Bellows

You could contact Village Restorations ([email protected]).

Well they do not make bellows they do have a supplier who does and they could give you the contact information.

You can see a set of bellows at the Army Heritage Museum in Carlisle, PA or in my shop if you are ever in SW PA

Tom

You might consider using Tyvek instead of leather or canvas. Strong, flexible, and should be of no interest to rodents. Carpet glue will hold it.

Some of the new dog food bags are a reinforced plastic, might work with this design; http://www.cd3wd.com/CD3WD_40/JF/JF_OTHER/SMALL/04-084_blacksmiths_bellows.pdf

Good Luck!

When I built my double lunged bellows I used heavily treated canvas used to make wind tarps for oilfield drilling rigs. The canvas was in better shape than the wood when I left it behind my last move after 20 years of service.

one detail most of these instructions leave out:
To make a bellows work much better, do not divide the leather evenly top to bottom. Instead, place more leather on the top chamber, as much as a 1/3 to 2/3 ratio. I can and have made a lager bellows smaller in overall size and work much better with this ratio. I cut about 12 inches of length off the back (and wider section) of a bellows, when putting on the new leather I applied this theory. It not only made it more compact, but worked much better. I also found garment leather in a remnant bin at a Tandy's store that happened to be just the right size. Garment leather works great, thin and supple, it cost me about $80.00 at the time, 15 years ago. These bellows still work great. I also did an old set in canvas about 20 years ago that is still in use. The garment leather is actually lighter in weight than the canvas.

Jymm, I fully agree on the 1/3 2/3 on the two sections. When I helped rebuild the bellows at the village I used to volunteer at, they was originally 1/2 1/2. After the rebuild and adjusting the sections to the 1/3 on bottom 2/3 on top, the bellows was absolutely incredible and was much easier to use, required less effort to pump and had better air flow for a longer period of time.

If I am to make one, would it be better to use one large peice of wood (probably ply/pulpwood) or to glue/seal a few peices of wood together (for the "paddles")?
Thanks again everyone!:D

Plywood and canvas. Use a saturated solution of borax in water to make the canvas fire reluctant. Or use a commercial product.

Frosty

How thick does the plywood have to be so that the boards will not bend?

I made a bellows many years ago from plywood, about 1/2" thick and the plywood bent severely when I tried to pump it. The bellows looked nice, and the valving worked nicely, but otherwise it did not work well because the plywood bent.

The ones I've been involved in used either 1by pine or tulip poplar (4-6" wide planks) butted side on side then bound together with multiple cross boards to hold them together. We then simply applied some sealant between the boards (caulking) on the inside (so it wouldn't show) On the last one we added a metal strapping around the butt ends of the boards (over the canvas) that in theory was to help avoid fastener failure on the cross boards... it also incorporated the pull point on one side