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That old hand crank forge I saw at the Pioneer Museum in Murfreesboro
I was down in Tennessee last weekend visiting family and stopped by the Pioneer Museum. They had this old hand crank forge from the 1800s that was still in working condition, with the original bellows and all. The docent told me it was used by a local farrier up until the 1920s. Has anyone else run across old forges like that in little museums or antique shops?
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black.jordan25d ago
Wait, could you actually crank it and see how the bellows worked? I've seen a few old blacksmith setups at places like that but they always have signs saying "do not touch" or the bellows are rotted out. Did they let you get a feel for how much force it took to get the forge hot? I'm curious if those old hand cranks were easier to turn than they look or if you'd be exhausted after a few minutes.
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the_sandra25d ago
Black jordan, the docent actually let me crank it a few times. It took some effort but not as much as you'd think since the bellows were well balanced and the mechanism was greased up. Did the museum let you try opening the damper or adjusting the air flow to see how much that changed the resistance on the crank?
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jason9587d ago
Wait, hold on - she let you really crank it? That's wild. Most museum docents are super protective of that stuff, like they think you're gonna break a hundred year old bellows just by looking at it wrong. I'm genuinely surprised they let you get that hands on with it, especially with a working forge setup. Most places would have that thing behind a rope with a "do not touch" sign, not letting visitors actually operate it. That's the kind of hands on experience that actually teaches you something, not just staring at it through glass. Did she give you any background on when it was last used for real, or was it just restored for display?
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