Foot powered forge blower?

Question

I am looking for a picture or drawings for a foot powered forge blower. When in Prague in 1999 we saw one at a festival in the old town area, but I didn't get a picture of it. The blacksmith's forge was a very lightweight affair with what looked like a treadle powered sewing machine mechanism driving the blower. The blower was run by one foot since the smith had to be standing when using it.

Any help would be appreciated, Pete Stanaitis

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Martin H. Eastburn · Accepted Answer

And have a flywheel and it will go when you take a break or have to move.It also keeps a steady force.Sounds like a good concept to me.Martin H. Eastburn@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot netTSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal.NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter FounderIHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.spaco wrote:

Chilla · Answer

I remember seeing one of those, are you going to build one?You could scavenge an old treadle sewing machine and a Buffalo Forge Blower, maybe.Regards Charlesspaco wrote:

spaco · Answer

My wife found the picture we took in 1999 after I convinced myself that we didnt' take one.See it here:    left it pretty big so you could see what the guy is selling, too. Sorry that the forge is hard to see with all the ironwork in front of it, but that's the only picture I have of it.    We played a dirty trick on this guy.   There were 44 blacksmiths on the trip.   We were all watching him forge.    we asked our interpreter to tell him that "44 Master American Blacksmiths are watching you".  The poor guy turned white and became really embarrassed.   Of course only about 1/2 of us were MASTER blacksmiths.   But he shouldn't have felt bad, his work was pretty good and he had his customer base figured out quite well, we thought.     Anyway, if you look closely at the picture, you can see that there is a crankshaft with about a 2 inch stroke   and a treadle driven by the guy's tennis-shoed foot.     There is a strange shape covering the 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock quadrant  of the large...

Guy King · Answer

The message from spaco  contains these words:Brave man doing that wearing a white shirt!

jpolaski · Answer

And no other safety gear...

Chilla · Answer

Did it myself with minimal gear, burnt myself lots that day, so now gear up to the max.  Looks like I'm wearing hazmat gear :-DRegards Charles

Guy King · Answer

The message from      contains these words:The one thing I won't do most jobs without are goggles and earmuffs.

Martin H. Eastburn · Answer

Brave - yea right.   His wife would hug him for shopping.Notice the box on the left (his) on the ground - tennis shoes - andthe wares outside for show and tell.  The guy in a suit in the door way -Simply a guy there looking at a forge with wishful eyes and his lover snappinga picture of the things she wants.MartinMartin H. Eastburn@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot netTSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal.NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter FounderIHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.Guy K

Guy King · Answer

The message from "Martin H. Eastburn" contains these words:

I've done worse.

Perhaps we need to steal a thread from uk.rec.sheds on "Old Enough To Know Better".

My latest OETKB was thinking that I could get away with "just a tiny weld" without putting on long trousers and making sure they hang outside my boots. A nice big blob of spatter went down the front of my boot and some time later it's still sore 'cos it rubs on my sandals.

And yes, I am OETKB.

Foot powered forge blower?

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