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That old forge at the county fair in Des Moines had me standing there for 20 minutes
Was at the Iowa State Fair last weekend and they had this guy doing live blacksmithing demos. He was using a hand crank blower, not even electric. The way he timed his hammer strikes with the rhythm of the bellows... I don't know, I just stood there watching. Made me want to build a simple coal forge in my backyard just to mess around with. Has anyone here tried setting up a small forge without a dedicated shop space?
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walker.max1mo ago
Good tools slow you down in all the right ways.
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victorb171mo ago
Kind of funny you say 'hand crank blower' - those old ones actually work better for coal forges. More control over the fire, less chance of blowing your coal pile clean off.
Built mine in a 55-gallon drum cut in half. Lined it with some cheap fire clay and sand. Whole rig sits on cinder blocks in a corner of my drive shed.
Took maybe an afternoon to put together. Craigslist had an old brake drum for dirt cheap, that's your fire pot right there.
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