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Saw a weird old forge setup at a farm auction near Lancaster

It had a hand crank blower hooked up to a car battery with jumper cables, and the whole thing was sitting on a stack of cinder blocks. Has anyone ever tried a portable power source like that for a demo forge, or is it just asking for trouble?
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3 Comments
jade_grant95
jade_grant951mo agoMost Upvoted
Oh heck, I gotta say something here. That car battery jumper cable setup is a great way to let the smoke out of your battery if you're not careful. The blower motor is probably pulling way more current than those cheap jumper cables are rated for, and they'll heat up fast. Plus sitting on cinder blocks near a forge, those blocks can crack and pop from the heat if they've got moisture in them. Stick to a proper 12v plug and some thick gauge wire, keep the battery a good ten feet away.
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jordan134
jordan1342mo ago
Works fine, just keep the battery away from the heat.
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schmidt.amy
Learned that the hard way when my phone battery swelled up like a hot pocket.
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