hello everybody i have decided to go with coal as my forging medium i guess you could call it. i have been making my coal from scrap lumber i get just burning it up into coal in a 55 gal homemade retort, does anyone have any plans for a simple bellows or know of where i may find some decent ones?
I use a lot of charcoal for forging. It is actually charcoal you are talking about just not the lump kind like you get at the grocery store. I use a hair dryer for a blower. Just make sure you get one that has a cool air button or switch. I also put some duct tape over part of the output to kind of retard the air blast a little, so it doesn't burn up the charcoal too fast. Make a deep fire with it and it should work fine. I hope this helps and hair dryers are cheap.
|quoted:
I use a lot of charcoal for forging. It is actually charcoal you are talking about just not the lump kind like you get at the grocery store. I use a hair dryer for a blower. Just make sure you get one that has a cool air button or switch. I also put some duct tape over part of the output to kind of retard the air blast a little, so it doesn't burn up the charcoal too fast. Make a deep fire with it and it should work fine. I hope this helps and hair dryers are cheap.
yes you are right i was in a hurry when that was typed lol it is charcoal. when you say deep fire what do you mean?
Devan,
I use a shop vac on "blow" mode and a waste-gate to control air flow. Works great and is cheap, too <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//cool.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />
Ed C.
i never thought of that Ed! and i have several shop vacs in the garage. i will try that out thanks a lot!
By a deep fire I want at least a couple to three inches of charcoal under the work piece and maybe an inch or two on top of the work piece. By doing that it will help to use up more oxygen and you will have less scale on your blades when it is over with. Makes for an easier time cleaning things up. I built a forge out of a Mack truck rim and lined the sides with some large hard fire bricks to hold some of the heat. I also made a cutout on both sides so I could stick longer pieces through if I needed to. This is a much cleaner fire than raw coal. On the other hand if you can get good coke it will be close and will last longer. For me charcoal is free. I do have a gas forge in my garage/shop but I mostly use it for heat treating not general forging.
Devan,
Lots of good suggestions here. If you look around, you can find antique hand crank blowers that were common on coal forges. One advantage to a hand crank blower, it isn't blowing while you are at the anvil. So, your charcoal isn't being used up as fast.
Granger Industrial Supply has a lot of small squirrel cage blowers that work well on forges. The blower that I use on my propane forges, will work equally as well on coal and charcoal forges. These small blowers are a lot quieter than a shop vac.
As for controlling the air flow from the blower into the forge, I use a 1-1/2 inch gate valve (buy at Lowes or Home Depot)in between the blower and my forge attached with small sections of iron pipe (also at HD or Lowes). I can crank the gate valve down to limit the air or open it all the way for maximum blast. This is on my propane forge, but you can use a similar setup on any coal or charcoal forge.
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71
Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.â€
Steve,
I went to Grainger's and got the Dayton blower. Took a couple hours to fabricate a hook-up with a gate valve (Centaur type), but I tried it out tonight and it worked much better than the shop vac. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />
Steve,
I went to Grainger's and got the Dayton blower. Took a couple hours to fabricate a hook-up with a gate valve (Centaur type), but I tried it out tonight and it worked much better than the shop vac. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /> The shop vac had more pressure, but the Dayton blower has more CFM or volume and all of the coal in the firepot burned much more evenly. This will work much better and is much more quiet <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//blink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' /> Thanks for the link <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//cool.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />
