Subject: Re: information needed

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 96 17:52:42 CST

On Sun, 31 Mar 1996 19:02:52 -0600  Willie Calhoun wrote:
>At 05:07 PM 3/31/96 -0500, you wrote:
>>Can anyone on the list advise me on getting the address of a business
>>that has hand operated crank type blowers.

is there any reason you cannot use electric?  I went the hand 
cranked/pumped method when I started.  Let me tell you, nuthin' beats the 
ole' electric blower.  A shaded poll blower can have the speed controlled 
with a simple dimmer switch.  Shaded poll motors are available in 12volt 
DC and 115volt AC for less than $40 and last a looonnnggggg time.  I 
break with tradition in that my blowers are only around 140cfm.  A lot of 
folks say that you need 250cfm or better, but my expirience says 
otherwise.  

-----------------------------------------------------
Name: Franklyn D. Garland        A Hobby Is Hard work
E-mail: [email-masked]          You wouldn't Do For
Date: 04/01/96                     A Living.

http://www.mcs.net/~frnklyn/homepage/

For PGP Public Key finger [email-masked]
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From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 1996 10:23:46 -0500 (EST)

When we teach our beginners' class, I strongly reccomend starting off with 
a hand cranked blower if at all possible.  The student learns fire 
tending much better if they need to be standing there cranking.  If the 
beginner starts with an electric powered blower, they end end up burning 
up more steel and don't come to appreciate the dynamics of the fire. I 
know, I started with a small electric blower and feel that I didn't 
really get to know the fire until I started to us a bellows at the local 
Farm Museum. 

(Obviously, for the experienced smith, especially someone who is trying to 
make some money, then an electric blower is the way to go.)

Again, this is a case of learning to walk, before you start to run.  If 
you know how to tend a fire using a hand crank blower or a bellows, I 
believe, you will do a better job when you graduate to an electric 
powered air supply. 

Another positive for the hand cranked blower, is that it provides 
another, indirect, opportunity for the beginner to get some additional 
exercise/conditioning for their upper body. Many of our beginners are 
"desk jockeys", some have not even used a regular carpenters hammer prior 
to prior to the start of class.

Albin Drzewianowski
Beginners'-Class Coordinator
Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland
Westminster, MD