Poll - Which best describes your shop. Inside or outside?

[Mende]

oh ..got it. . .feel so dumb for not seeing that ; ;

[jayco]

My little forging 'station', is 8 ft.x16 ft. and open on the south side. I get plenty of fresh air that way, but it gets pretty cold in winter. So this year, I put some old roofing tin over the open side and added a homemade flue.

It certainly ain't pretty, but it'll be warmer.

By the way, this little shed was only meant to be a temporary shop......35 years ago!

A new shop is planned for spring.

here's a couple other threads that kinda deal with forging and shelter:

Forging under canvas

Forging in cold weather

[matt87]

Outdoors in the small concrete cube that is my back yard. Can get bloody cold when its raining and you're waiting for the iron to heat...

[Glenn]

I have merged the thread and the poll as they are the same subject. Results of the poll will be posted on this thread later.

[ThomasPowers]

Well the Gasser is in the 20x30 smithy---all steel construction, concrete floor with two 10'x10' roll up doors on opposing ends. Currently unheated and no electricity

The coal forges are outside and I'm scrounging stuff to build a shelter for them and some of the "rougher" pieces of shop equiment.

I alos have some money put by to get electricity to the shop; 200 amp service. just wishe I could get 3 phase!

[Jacob]

I got a ~15x30 detached garage/shop as a main selling feature of our house. There's a heater once I hook up the propane, and there'll be a chimney for the coal forge once I finish putting it up. It has a two story ceiling, 60 amps for outlets, seperate breaker for lights, and it's own paved driveway. There are other outbuildings for garden tools. It's good so far, and should be great once I get the forge chimney set up. However, it's filling quickly.

[tzonoqua]

I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity earlier this year to take over a hundred odd year old purpose built smiddy- main workshop is about 22m (thats metres!) x 10m, with metal store/cutting room 10m x 12m, which has a sliding barn type door with a good ''ventilation gap'' around it.

There are also two gallery/showrooms one 8m x 5m and another 8m x 8m, so as you can see I am blessed for space. The walls are made from granite and are just under a metre thick- just think of a cave!! It keeps it cool in the summer, and hey, cool in the winter too! In the metal store room there are still the rings on the wall where horses would have been tethered to be shod.

(this is going off topic a bit now but- I had an elderly lady come to visit me in the summer, she looked around and explained that she was a local, lived here all her life of 86 years. She was just being nosy she said, and wanted to see what we had done to the place, apparently this was where everyone met, exchanged stories, was the centre of village life in ye olden days, and she used to get her pony shod here. I asked her what her pony's name was. Queenie, she said.

When I moved in I found bundles of old rusty (proper hand made) horse shoes, some of them still in sets, bound with twine with Horses name's on tags, and wouldn't you know it, one of those bundles had Queenie scrawled accross the tag. So I disappeared into the back and dug it out, and when I gave it to her, it almost brought tears to my eyes, let alone hers! I gave her the shoes, which she later told me she has proudly displayed on her mantlepiece. (she also went around the village and let everyone know how she was reunited with her long lost pony's shoes!)

anyway, I digress!

One day recently when it had been cold for a good few weeks, (just above freezing) then suddenly warmed up one day there was actually condensation on the outside of the windows!

There is no heating, but a great big hearth in which I have been lighting a (wood) fire when not doing forge work, but when its going or when I get the gasser on , keeps me warm.

I think its its in the Edge of the Anvil book , where author Jack Andrews talks about setting up a smithy in a tipi, now THAT really appeals to the romantic in me. I wouldn't complain about my set up now, but somehow working in a tipi in the right surroundings (nice valley, woodland) would be a little bit magic!

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by tzonoqua

(this is going off topic a bit now but- I had an elderly lady come to visit me in the summer,

(she also went around the village and let everyone know how she was reunited with her long lost pony's shoes!)

anyway, I digress!

Oh no, that's no digression, It's a taste of history.

It lets us know how the village smith was thought of and their place in the society. That you could return such a terrific memory to your visitor is something rather wonderous.

Not to mention being almost as good P.R. as saving the mayor's kid from drowning. <grin>

Excellent story, thanks for sharing.

Frosty

[GVR-4579]

Mine is a 3 car garage, i will have a lineshaft up at some point and have my trip hammer and a drill press in shop. For now its just the forge, anvil, swedge block and a workbench tho

[matt87]

Originally Posted by Frosty

It lets us know how the village smith was thought of and their place in the society.

Very true. I suppose that since 'by hammer and hand, all trades do stand' 'most all village people visited the villagesmithy on a regular basis (please no jokes about policemen, builders etc. :P).