Does anyone know where i can buy a hand crank blower?
thanx Mike

Sure:
1) EBay
2) Blacksmith club meetings
3) Blacksmith event tailgating areas
4) People who buy and sell blacksmith equipment
5) Junk yards, flea markets, and antique malls
6) Classified and trade sections of blacksmithing web sites

Old estate auctions tend to yield some very interesting finds for forge equipment.

I have a one for sale but the shipping would KILL you! Drive around the country and stop at old farm houses, I think you'd be surprised as to what is out there if you look. Just remember that some of this stuff has HIGH value---example---My great great grandpa used that to make yada, yada, yada. Do EVEN try to buy those...you can't afford them. But they are out there. Good luck.

well im not really in the position right now to go drive around the country because i use a bicycle to go to work

ive got an old tumble dryer motor and fan and im working on building a housing/case around it to contain and blow out the air

Mike, if the tumble dryer don't work then go to your local auto wreckers and rip out the fan from a car heater. It'll have a three or four speed control built into the wiring loom to the dash controls.
It'll run from a 12v Battery or a charger and provide plenty of air. It'll just take time to seperate it from the car, but you can take some of the ducting as well.

It should be pretty cheap too.

hope this helps

well the fan and motor i got from the dryer is in good condition almost brand new and at my blacksmithing course im building a housing around it to suck in and shoot out air, exactly like a hand crank blower but it will just run from a motor

Only people I know making them new are vaughans. Follow this link:
Vaughans (Hope Works) - For all your Blacksmith, Foundry, Farrier needs. Now available Ironworkers and Bending machines

Item ALV40 on page 39 of their 98 page on line catalogue.

One tip though, make sure you are sitting down before you look at the prices.

thanx but it is very pricey

Damascus Mike , a second hand vacum cleaner ( 1 that blows ) from thrift shop will set you back a couple of $ , then hook it up to a light dimmer switch soin youse can control the speed . Noisy as all get out , but after 14 yr's you wont even notice it .... or plumb in an air gate & run " vac on FULL " openin' or closing " gate " for the amount of air needed .

Car thermo fan in a " box " works too , you can even get those in 2 speed


Dale Russell

its fine, ill just use the tumble dryer motor and fan, and ill finish building the housing for it, im still new to making stuff from metal so ill just try do it myself and ill gain experience if i stuff it up or if it works out perfect, i will post pictures once my forge is fully up and running with the blower.It should take about a month or so to fully build my forge.and then im gana build a press to do prescision work and a power hammer for the big heavy stuff such as making swords and knives and once they are small enough ill use my soon to be press.

OR you could try a Japanese Box Bellows....just finished one myself, easy to make & works quite well....plans at Japanese Box Bellows.
See what you think

Or here.....dragonsong

i actially checked out a vid on youtube about those bellows

D-Mike

If you really want the blower to be Hand-Crank, seems you could find a belt-driven blower and an old Bicycle, and rig something to work using the Bike drive train...

You might try to build one from an old vacuum cleaner. They blow as well as suck, in fact the sucking and blowing are equal. Scrapped vacuums are cheap to free. You could control the airflow with a butterfly valve, which is pretty easy to make if you couldn't find one at the heating/ventilating department or shop.

k thanx i will finish making my first blower and then ill another one like that

Another idea , get a old hand crank grinder , rig up a fan inplace of the stone , will work too


Dale Russell

with a piece or two of plywood and leather or thin vynal you can achieve a bellows of fair size relatively cheap its not a blower but it will give you air after all this is a craft that survived up until the last 200 yrs or so without hand cranked blowers or electric, just an Idea