At my son Alex's request, I repurposed an old photocopy machine motor to electrify the forge blower so that it did not have to be hand operated. Basically I replaced the hand crank with a pulley and mounted the motor to the wall. The motor is powered from a wall socket that is on a dimmer, so the speed can be varied. It works quite well for this purpose.
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Forge - insulation and beginning of Hardie board install. Hardie Board is a cement board that is fire proof, which makes it ideal for this application. My contractor had some left overs from a previous job, so he sold them to me at a discount for use here. He had enough that we used some in the main workshop area as well.
Had Alex's friend Mitchell o some welding on the forge so we can vent the smoke and gases once my new shed is built. We did a test fire at the end to see if it would draw. It did, even with about 5 ft of stove pipe on top.
Wire brushed the new anvil and the leg vice. Afterwards the leg vice was painted a nice black to keep rust away.
Finally got ahold of a proper anvil for my son today in Binbrook. Not a bad price either. $450.00. These seem to go for a lot more than this. In addition to the anvil, the seller threw in some scrap metal as well, which maybe useful in future.
Picked up some metal from my Aunt Linda this past weekend. We were able to make a proper stand for Alex's leg vise and a quenching tank as well. My son's friend was able to cut it to size and weld it up (as he has a welding ticket).
Fire and steel. My son test ran his new forge tonight. Earlier today, my son drove a few hours away to pick up 5 bags of coal.
Today we installed the firepot into a metal table that Trish's uncle graciously donated to the cause. We also put together the piping for the air intake to the forge. We still have to weld in place some angle iron from an old bedstead (to contain the coal) and mount the leg vice, among other things
Today we picked up some items for son's forge. This include a forge fire bowl, several tongs, hammers, a leg vise and a blower. All of these are in decent condition at least to get him started. My son just graduated from the Artist Blacksmith course at Sir Sandford Fleming, so I am hoping this will help him keep him occupied while he looks for work and perhaps allows him to bring in some needed cash as well.
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AuthorCharles Baetsen holds a Bachelor and a Master's degree in Engineering Physics from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Archives
February 2024
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