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Visited a bladesmith in Little Rock and saw his coal forge setup
I stopped by an old timer's shop outside Little Rock last weekend and he was using a hand crank blower from the 1920s. Said he's never seen the need for an electric one because the manual control gives him better heat for pattern welding. He was working a billet of 1095 and 15n20, and the weld lines were the cleanest I've seen. Any of you tried going back to a hand crank or is that too much work for modern shops?
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evan_green521mo ago
...wait, a hand crank blower from the 1920s? That's wild to think about, I've only ever used electric ones myself and I'd be worried about losing control of the heat mid-weld. But if he's getting that kind of pattern welding out of old gear, maybe there's something to it...
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the_wendy1mo ago
Oh man, tell me about it! I tried using a hand crank blower once at a friend's forge and I swear I almost set my eyebrows on fire trying to crank and weld at the same time. It's like patting your head and rubbing your belly while holding a hot piece of metal. I'd probably end up with a twisted ankle and a half-melted billet. Respect to the old timers who made it look easy.
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the thing nobody's bringing up is how a hand crank changes your rhythm completely. with electric you just flip a switch and forget about it, but cranking makes you feel the air moving through the coal. you can hear it and sense the resistance change when the fire is right. that old timer probably has a mental map of exactly how many turns per minute he needs for each heat. plus, you're not stuck standing in one spot near an outlet, you can move around the forge and crank from wherever you're standing. i bet that extra mobility helps with bigger billets or working with a striker.
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