Bellows -- save your breath

[Vickie]

I have a 40" dome. I was having a hard time getting some of my fires to catch with just newspapers and matches, so I made a bellows.
Now I have an easy way of getting the dome white... The heat soak still takes an hour+ but much less stinky smoke.
And no risk of breathing in instead of blowing out!

Here is where I found the plans.
http://www.ibiblio.org/twa/plans/pla...acebellows.pdf

Best luck,
Vickie

[Rastys]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Hi Vickie,
there is a much easier way than to make some bellows and then have to stand there and work them you know!
Why not get one of your old hair driers and put a piece of flexible duct/pipe/tube on the outlet, aim it at the fire base and turn it on.
I even saw how members have use a leaf blower at a distance to turn their struggling fire into a fierce one within a minute.

Rastys

[Frances]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Wow Vickie, post a pic, please!

I just went out and bought some bellows, but making your own is so much cooler.

I'm sure a hairdryer would work very well, but somehow I think its nice to use the oven without any electrical gadgets.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

nice plans vickie,, i'll be building mine soon.....

thanks

[jcg31]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Great plans, I went the bellows route (bought at lowes) for a while but found that one of Harbor freight tools $8.99 Garden sprayers works a bit better; nice and small, light, much more focused powerful stream of air and the nozzle hasn't melted yet in more than a year of use. Also good for blowing out or cleaning floor. With its bright orange tank it disrupts the rustic ambiance of the oven while in use, but stores nicely out of site in the wood storage area.

Jim

[texassourdough]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Hi Vickie!

The plans look good. While other means of air transfer to the fire may be "easier" this is pretty classy. Thanks for sharing!
Jay

[Vickie]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Hi Frances... I'll look around for a photo. I think I have one, we're having a lot of rain in NJ right now but I can take one if I can't find one.
The bellows I made are very basic, I used some scraps that were lying about so they aren't beautiful, but they do work really well. And I haven't trimmed them out, so you can still see the staples-- I'm a function over form type of girl.
Here is a webshots album of my oven -- many thanks to dmun for the geodesic dome patterns. wood-fired pizza oven pictures from friends & fun photos on webshots
Not quite up to the masonry work some others have displayed, but it works quite well.
Regards,
Vickie

[Vickie]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Hi Vickie!

The plans look good. While other means of air transfer to the fire may be "easier" this is pretty classy. Thanks for sharing!
Jay

You are very welcome, Jay... I was thinking about some others that said they use a copper pipe and blow air in by mouth. The bellows are much safer!
You can jazz them up if you wish to, or leave them "workman-style".

[Vickie]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

nice plans vickie,, i'll be building mine soon.....

thanks

Mark -- as quickly as your oven came together, I'm sure you'll be "blowing smoke" by the weekend!!! Nice work!

[Vickie]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Hi Vickie,
there is a much easier way than to make some bellows and then have to stand there and work them you know!
Why not get one of your old hair driers and put a piece of flexible duct/pipe/tube on the outlet, aim it at the fire base and turn it on.
I even saw how members have use a leaf blower at a distance to turn their struggling fire into a fierce one within a minute.

Rastys

Thanks Rastys. I don't have too many outlets, I save them for the radio and some lighting. But thanks for the idea.

[Vickie]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Great plans, I went the bellows route (bought at lowes) for a while but found that one of Harbor freight tools $8.99 Garden sprayers works a bit better; nice and small, light, much more focused powerful stream of air and the nozzle hasn't melted yet in more than a year of use. Also good for blowing out or cleaning floor. With its bright orange tank it disrupts the rustic ambiance of the oven while in use, but stores nicely out of site in the wood storage area.

Jim

The sprayer sounds like a good solution.
I spent a little while banging the nozzle around on the bellows to get it into a good shape. Now if I lay it on the hearth, I can get a decent sized spot ash free in just a puff or two. Makes for much tastier pizza!!!
The bellows also works great for stoking up the embers just before tossing in some "Dirty Steaks". You can whiff off the ash layer and get the coals bright hot.

[Vickie]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Wow Vickie, post a pic, please!

I just went out and bought some bellows, but making your own is so much cooler.

I'm sure a hairdryer would work very well, but somehow I think its nice to use the oven without any electrical gadgets.

Hi Frances,
I got a chance to take a photo of the bellows and I decided to show off a bit. Last spring, I took a blacksmithing class and made my oven tools. These are the handles for the rake and shovel.

[Frances]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

That looks great, thanks for posting the pics! I just never thought of trying anything like that, but next time mine melt, I'm going to dig up this thread and make some myself, too.

And the blacksmithing is WAY cool. I'm green with envy...

[AnnieMacD]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Vickie, thanks so much for posting this. I had just asked someone to make a bellows for me (can't do ANYTHING like that myself) but now have some drawings. I presume you can make the handles and nozzle a bit longer??? I'm full of admiration!

Annie

[Vickie]

Re: Bellows -- save your breath

Annie,
I hope they are helpful to you. They were not hard to make, the worst part of the whole thing (and still not very hard to do) was stapling the leather part of the bellows.

About the nozzle, I guess you can do whatever floats your boat... I used aluminum flashing that I had around from something else. I just kept folding it around until I had something that looked like it might work. Then I stapled that on to the wood too. I had a good time with the stapler that day!
As far as the handles... I wouldn't go too long, mine fits in where my wood is stored so it's always close at hand.

Best Luck
Vickie