Practice bellows from scrap about the shed.

[tombear]

Weather was lousy first thing ( perversely it's quite lovely now and the wife and middle sons been in the garden planting carlin peas and throwing axes, as you do..) so I thought I'd make a small bellows as practice before buying some decent wood and leather and make a set of two in the reenactment Viking/Saxon style of forge bellows.

Ufortunately the router was playing silly b<ggers so I had to do it from memory.

All I had to use was a old blockboard shelf, some scrap leather and a beeeg box of 1/2 inch tacks. For the tube all there was,short of making one from flat sheet, was a .50 cal browning case that I'd cut a bit off already to make a collar for a tool handle.

If I'd known it would have come out as well I would have taken more care with it as I'm rather chuffed with the results for a first go.. I think I only took two measurements while making the whole thing. Being lopsided doesn't seem to harm its use at all.

One thing the 1/2 inch hole is no where big enough so when I can get something wider, say a inch, I'll pull the case out, plug the hole and cut a new hole more centrally in the nose block. Incidentally that's pegged together with the trouser rod from a broken coat hanger. Waste not want not. When the bigger tube is in
place I'll probably make a template and cut some tin in a Maltese cross sort of shape , cut a central hole and armour the nose block some to stop it being so easily charred! Just folded and tacked on will do fine.

Overall it's 2 foot long by 11 at its widest. It gives a good hard blow but there's too much resistance with the narrow outlet.

A very simple and quick build.

ATB

Tom

 

[knifeman]

Well for a simple and quick build it like looks great! Well done mate!


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[Muddypaws]

Looks pretty damned good to me! Simple practice piece - who are you trying to kid??! Seriously though, that looks a very useful item you have made.

 

[tombear]

Cheers!

not sure why there's a frowny face in the title, didn't knowingly put it there.

Mind it does help having a excessive number of tools! That speeds things up but it could have all been done with a couple of saws, a sharp blade for trimming the leather, a hammer and a brace and a couple if sizes of bitt. Sand paper if you wanted a nice finish.

No really, it was much easier to do than I thought it would be. The valves just a thin floppy bit of leather tacked to one side of the hole.

ATB

Tom

 

[Mesquite]

Looks a great set of bellows Tom

 

[nic a char]

this is what it's all about - brilliant!

 

[richardhomer]

Nice job there Tom

 

[tombear]

Thanks! I need to drill a hole in a handle to hook it up.

Theres loads of tutorials on the interweb so I didn't bother doing a stage by stage job.

Since it does produce a huge volume of air I think I may try it out with a suitable extension on the mini forge. The fire clay needs a good baking on to see where it will crack and need patching. I may not get up to a proper working temperature with crushed up charcoal briquettes ( all I have at the moment ) and one bellows but it will give us a bit of experience.

atb

tom

 

[John Fenna]

I love a good pair of bellows
I have yet to make kite bellows but have made some bag bellows...


The pair were for Castell Henllys Iron Age fort but the singleton was for me - made from 2 old bowls and scraps of leather.
I can stand on one loop and pump with one hand...

 

[tombear]

Uw, I do like that one you made for yourself. I'm knee deep in charity shop wooden bowls and any road could turn a couple of discs easy enough. Maybe mount the bottom one on a board with some peg holes to anchor it to the ground.

'think I'll try making a bit of leather tubing/ pipe. I've still loads of the beeswax and tallow leather dressing ( the pine resin and turpentine has really worked, stopping it going off) to smear on them.im wondering what I have to make a heat proof extension for one end.

ATB

Tom

 

[bobnewboy]

Nice bit of upcycling

 

[tombear]

When herself bought my my old school Myfordwood lathe the guy dumped on us some half made bowls in case I wanted to practice on them. Unfortunately they all had flaws in the wood that made them not worth finishing so they've sat waiting to be used for something, even if only mixing glue in.

Anyroad one seamed usable for a Fenna Pattern bellows so I filled the cracks with superglue, turned a rough nozzle from a scrap of beech rolling pin , slowly drilled a sub sized hole in the side with a flat bit ( tried a brace at first with a new bit but the wood just wanted to crack no matter how slow I went ) and used a round surform and permagrit to make a really tight fitting hole for it. I'm waiting for the alph' resin glue to cure overnight before I sand it pretty and peg it to a square board I salvaged and drilled holes for pegs to hold it to the ground. I'd used the bowl to draw a circle on another scrap of board and trimmed it into a disc to be the top part of it. A tank cutter made two big holes in the top and tomorrow I'll sand it all clean and smooth before tacking a double flap valve underneath and a leather grip down the centre on top.

I've plenty of upholstery grade leather so how long do folks reckon I should make the bag? The bowls 8" diameter. I intend to glue it to the wood and then tack it yo the top half with a offset double line and the to the base with a single line. Around the nozzle I'll drill pilot holes as I think the woods tendency to crack will lead to lots of splits if I don't.

atb

Tom

 

[tombear]

Didn't get much chance for pottering today but did a bit more on the tube bellows while watching repeats of mock the week after everyone else was abed.

I wet the places where the deliberately off set 1/2 inch pegs hold the base unit together ( also glued to hell and back ) otherwise you couldn't see them very well. Once the glue has dried I'll linseed oil the insides.

looking at Mr Fennas fine example for the proportions I will make the leather tube 20 inches long, the circumference of the top and bottom are 24 3/4 inches. For once I'll have the shiny side on the inside, partly to hide the fact that it is going to be chrome upholstery leather and partly as the leather dressing will absorb easier into the rough side.

You can't tell from the pic but the flap valve is in place.

iif the wall of the bowl was thicker I would have remounted it on the lathe and cut a couple of grooves around it so the leather tube could have been held on with a pair of rawhide thongs wetted and shrunk on. I could do it for the top but will stick with the glue and tacks.

atb

tom

 

[tombear]

Cut a square of the upholstery leather and saddle stitched with linen a simple seam. I'm having a go at shrinking it on overnight.

If that that works I'll tack it in place tomorrow and dress the leather. Unless my sons maths is as bad as mine each complete stroke should push out near 500 cubic inches of air ( 8 inch diameter, 20 inches high. Or there abouts ).

The vague plan is to pump it while sitting on the floor with the hearth to one side and the large sledge hammer head I've mounted in a small log steadied with afoot either side like I've seen on documentaries about smiths in the third world. Of course it would be only for really small scale jobs but I thought I'd give it a go.

incidentally the saddlery clamp I made by laminating ply worked really well, I'm rather chuffed with that.

atb

tom

 

[Dreadhead]

Just come across this mate, and it's looking braw! Looking forward to seeing them finished

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[crosslandkelly]

They look a great set of Bellows.

 

[John Fenna]

Cut a square of the upholstery leather and saddle stitched with linen a simple seam. I'm having a go at shrinking it on overnight.

If that that works I'll tack it in place tomorrow and dress the leather. Unless my sons maths is as bad as mine each complete stroke should push out near 500 cubic inches of air ( 8 inch diameter, 20 inches high. Or there abouts ).

The vague plan is to pump it while sitting on the floor with the hearth to one side and the large sledge hammer head I've mounted in a small log steadied with afoot either side like I've seen on documentaries about smiths in the third world. Of course it would be only for really small scale jobs but I thought I'd give it a go.

incidentally the saddlery clamp I made by laminating ply worked really well, I'm rather chuffed with that.

atb

tom

That looks excellent!

 

[bobnewboy]

Tom, that is quite an epic set of bellows, and a very nice piece of handicraft If you are really getting into bellows, perhaps you could consider a wooden based bag type bellows, as can be seen in the following pics from my bronze casting course with Will Lord:

The corresponding short videos can be seen on my second Flickr link in my sig below

Cheers, Bob

 

[tombear]

Thanks for the kind words folks.

The leather is nearly dry so I'll put it on a sunny window sill to finish off. I need to fit a collar or mark on the right sized Archimedes drill so I don't drill too deeply the pilot holes for the tacks on the top edge of the base section, where there's the greatest risk of cracking.

i think I may yacht varnish the underside of the base as it will be mainly sat on grass or bare earth. It's not a finish I find attractive so the rest of it will get linseed oiled to death.

Talking to a local antique dealer yesterday he said he would root out some scrap brass tubing he'd been stockpiling to take into be weighed for scrap. Since there's several years build up there should be plenty to pick through, he said there should be at least one nozel from a commercially made bellows as he can remember stripping it from the rotten word work.

Aye I've been thinking about the sort of bellows you were using Bob, I can get rough dimensions from the photo, thanks! I notice the out pipe is quite broad , at least wrist thickness. Two of the lads have made noises about wanting to do some casting. I've a lead ladle that's good and heavy and a almost equally thick one that just needs the tar burning off it that I got with some issue caulking irons. Ha! Perhaps I'll melt down any of the White metal Lotr figures that don't sell on eBay and make some non toxic "lead" finger shot for the slings!

Atb

Tom

 

[tombear]

Well folks, about a gazillion tacks later and about a ounce of leather dressing it is done. Used a hair dryer to work the gloop in. It will cure overnight.

i may ream out the outlet pipe some, I wouldn't like to take the walls down to less than 1/8th of a inch.

ATB

Tom