Hi, I'm really interested in blacksmithing, and I've found some great sites. I've decided to use a coal forge. I'm just trying to figure out what sort of method I am going to use to pump in the air. I've decided to go with Great bellows unless I find an old hand cranked blower. If anyone has a link to some Great Bellows plans or just where i could learn a bit more about how they work, that would be great.
Thanks, Jhi.
Back in the 1980s, when they still fired up that setup (last time I went, sometime in the 1990s, they were forging out back with a steel/blower forge) I pumped the bellows at the Fryburg Fair farm museum. The basic deal is that there are 3 plates to the bellows - the middle one is fixed, the bottom one is pulled up (there was a lever arm so that the puller actually pulled down), and a valve in the middle plate lets the air from the bottom up into the top. The top can have weights added to adjust the pressure to some extent. Air to the forge comes from the top section. Air inlet is into the bottom section.
Ok, so would I need to be constantly pumping the great bellows? It doesnt bother me at all, just wondering.
Yes and no. You can't leave it for any great length of time if you want air into the fire, but the upper section does provide some reserve capacity (it keeps blowing until it runs out of air, some time after you stop pumping - but that's seconds, not minutes). In a one-man shop, a treadle arrangement will give you more hands while still being able to pump the bellows. As I postulated here some months ago, by going away from the traditional shape, you could make a bellows with a much greater capacity in the upper section, giving you more time off (you'd still need to pump as much, but you could quickly pump up and leave it for a bit longer).
Here's another link:
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