Joel OF

Well it turns out that flexible exhaust is nothing like I thought it was but I got talking to one of the members of staff and he's gunna give me for free some leftover pipe he bought off eBay for his van. This stuff: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/60mm-Warm-Air-Ducting-suitable-EBERSPACHER-heating-WEBASTO-heating-/270894067380?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item3f128b6eb4 Suitability = promising. Price = perfect. Me = happy. Him = beer on me.

Cheers. I might have been a little hasty in posting this, just rang the local breakers yard & they said they've got some bits of flexible exhaust knocking about for £5. Believe it or not I can't actually go to the household dump/recycling site anymore because Kent county council have banned vans from dumps! The last time I went I spotted something useful in a container but a member of staff said no one is allowed to take anything out of a container once it's been put in. Ironic that the council are trying to tackle fly tipping...by not allowing vans in, and not allowing recycling at a recycling site...by stopping people take things they can re-use. Rant over.

Hi folks, what do people typically use as flexible pipe to connect a blower? I need something close to 2 inch diameter, ducting hose was my immediate thought but it seems to be 4 inch minimum. I don't mind tweaking something a little over 2 inches but I'd prefer to start as close to the 2 inch mark as possible to avoid any cuts creating splits that travel up the length of the pipe/hose. Unfortunately my old vacuum cleaner hose was pretty feeble and very thin and I don't really want to restrict air flow. A local car parts shop does 2 inch flexible exhaust pipe but that's £20 a metre and I'm sure I can find something for less. I'm bracing myself for embarrassment as I'm guessing I've overlooked something obvious as usual! Any ideas appreciated, cheers!

Sweeps? Do you mean laying it horizontally?

It'll be greased. Cheers

A little while ago I bought an Alcosa F20 hand cranked blower that's meant to bolt flat onto a side blast forge. As I have bottom blast forge I want to make a stand for the blower and hook it up to the existing pipework under my forge with some flexible pipe. As the blower is quite heavy I was thinking of rotating it through 90 degrees, (meaning the air would be directed straight down), so there's no shear weight from the blower on the bolts/stand which would mean the stand is much easier to make. Is there any reason not to do this?

Folks, things took another complicated turn to do with planning permission - it's very boring and complicated so I won't go into it but the upshot is I just decided to re-shape and extend my existing smithy. I already had a small post single pitch smithy so I decided to make it into an A frame using some bits of half-round posts I had as well as some other bits I cobbled together. I took on board what my timber frame mate said about 4"x2" and 3"x2" being easier to work work with so I just made the roof out of them. I can't claim it's done with traditional carpentry - it's basically all held together with 10mm threaded bolts, though the traditional shape is there. I've never done anything like this before so I'm pretty proud of myself, so far it's taken me 3 days. As it is it's about 14'x8' but I'm going to tack on a single pitch lean-to to extend it at some point. I'm going to leave the posts "expressed" so to speak so the uprights are on the outside and I'll build the walls off the inside of the posts...basically I don't want to hide the part of the frame that's got all the charm.

Good point, I can feel a worthwhile arguement formulating. Thanks very much!

I'm just a hobby blacksmith. I'm kinda re-building my smithy at the minute, I'm re-shaping it from a single pitch shack into a cruck/A frame proper shed made with local coppiced chestnut posts...I like the "artist" workshop claim and hopefully the fact that I've designed/built it sympathetically using local sourced wood from local woodsmen blah blah blah will help my cause if it ever comes to verbal fisty cuffs with the council.

Cheers for the tips. I'm basically trying to figure out what my best tactics are for defending my little smithy in case anyone complains to the council. My smithy is in my parents' field in an area of outstanding natural beauty, in an agricultural area and has a footpath running through it...which basically means anyone can see it. Cutting a long story short, a local has a grudge against my Dad and it's only a matter of time till he gets wind of it and objects to the council. Luckily my Dad's an architect and knows all the ins and outs of planning applications, restrospective applications and so forth so I'm not short of advice there, it's just how I can justify my blacksmithing if the worst should happen. Ironically we're about the only people down our road that don't have horses or I'd say I shoed my own horses/it was a stable. I think buying some large woven hurdles to create a screen is a good idea.

I'm aiming this at folks in Britain specifically - what "category" does blacksmithing fall into? I mean for the sake of the beaurocrats/local government/council/building planners/general jobsworths and all the types that want to squeeze a quid out of you. Is it a rural craft? Agricultural? Engineering? Industrial? For example if you clash with the council is there a "category" that's best to claim blacksmithing falls under? I'd imagine it'd depend on what it is you make, what scale you work at and what they don't like about what you're doing that would determine how much you could back up your claim, but if don't specialise and make bespoke items from gates to arrow heads, then I guess you're really up the creek?

EDIT - ignore what's below, I would just delete the post but I don't know how to. I've found a couple reasons not to do what it says below. Can anyone find anything wrong with this idea?... I was thinking of ways to "pre-fab" my post footings and I remembered that my Dad has a load of old plastic tubs that are about 2 feet deep and about a foot and a half wide, I could put the posts in them and pour the concrete in and let it set, then another day I'd dig the holes to the match the tub dimensions and just drop the tub/post combo in. I've done my research and for my area the post footings don't need to be more than 2 foot deep and the only other thing I read is that the footing diameter should be one and a half times the diameter of the post...which this certainly will be. Normally when I get an idea it's rubbish, but this actually sounds ok?!?!

The Ben Law one? The one in Sussex? Sure have. That guy's done VERY well out of that episode! My Dad has lent me a book, INCREDIBLY useful, "Low Cost Pole Building Construction". http://www.amazon.co.uk/Low-Cost-Pole-Building-Construction/dp/0882661701

Definitely Wayne! Very true. Yep "bog standard" is the same as "run of the mill". Al Murray, a comedian who's character is a pub landlord says that "Britain and America are divided by a common language, and a massive ocean.". LOVE IT.

Reminds me of a joke: "Why's the grass greener in Ireland? Because they're all over here walking on ours." Boom-boom chaaar.

"Ken"- I thought that was Scottish colloquialism as I'd only ever heard my Scottish cousins use it before, interesting. Onduline is a roofing material like corrugated tin but it is fiberous, it's lightweight and comes in a variety of colours. I'd want black onduline interspersed with clear plastic corrugated panels to let light through from above. 3x2...*drum roll*................................3inch x 2inch timber :) Back when I used to watch WWF wrestling as a kid, Cactus Jack used to cheat and hit people with a 3foot length of timber that Good Ol' JR, the commentator, called "4 by 4". I guessed that one of the 4s meant 4inch diameter but the other 4 really confused me because I was thought he meant 4inch length...I used to think "what is this guy on about?! That bit of wood isn't 4 inches long!"

Certainly have had that thought but I also hear that in the UK condensation can be a problem with them. I know which direction I'm going now...for all my "supporting dying trades" ideologies and using local coppiced chestnut, I showed a mate who is a traditional timber framer, (I mean English medieval framing techniques, a guy who really knows his stuff), a cruck frame design I was working towards and he instantly said that it would take a long time and be difficult and expensive and that if I went with bog standard 3x2 he could build it in 2 days...so I'm going with that haha. This is the cruck frame I showed him, he said he'd love to do it because it would be fun but for my own sake he said go bog standard. http://www.wholewoods.co.uk/page.cfm?pageid=ww-timberframe EDIT - I should have said that he said it would be difficult because I wanted alernating clear/black onduline on the roof, and that would affect the rafters somehow...but I didn't really understand that bit because the lingo went over my head.

Cheers Chuck. Lucky son, I wish I had hands on experience like that at an early age. All across Europe we're now having a disease wipe out Ash. My parents have a small woodland which supposedly has some 70 year old ash in, I don't know if they've escaped the disease though. Day by day this is becoming clearer in my head and less daunting...thankfully!

I had a quick chat with my cousin that does a lot of groundworks today, I'm feeling more comfortable with going DIY knowing the field slope and saturated ground can be overcome without costing me an arm and a leg, however I'm unsure how far to extend the aggregate base beyond the shed and whether to slope the aggregate away at the 4 sides or build a retaining wall out of railway sleepers. Any ideas? I'm trawling the net for pictures of simple, round pole, single pitch shed frames that I can copy/adapt. My desire to support the local woodsman (and use their non-square timber) is really the tail wagging the dog, but it's an obstacle I feel is worth working around. If anyone can link me to any relevant pictures or sites I'd be massively grateful! Chuck, I know next to nothing about wood but chestnut very common in my area. Every local woodsman that makes posts, spiles, woven hurdles and fencing uses chestnut. I know it's a hardwood but I'd imagine it grows quite fast as it's never in short supply, it's a fraction of the cost of other hardwoods like oak too. However it's not a good anvil base as it cracks and another woodsman I was talking to suggested oak or ash.

Cheers Colleen. Chuck, I think if I had a 20ft long smithy and I didn't even out the ground then the ground height difference from front to back would be over a foot. Part of the problem is that the back of the new smithy would be on the site of the existing smithy whilst the front would be on new ground. To get the site for my existing smithy relatively even I had to dig down so I'll definitely have to do what Grizzer said: Grizzer do you have any pics of your pole construction? I want to build my shop frame mainly out of chestnut posts, there's a couple woodsmen up the road who coppice chestnut, I've bought from them before and they're always dirt cheap, and they deliver. I like supporting guys like them too as they're a dying breed, only problem is it makes my life harder because you're not dealing with flat 90 degree wood. Trust me, the beauty of using free, found or salvaged materials isn't lost on me, but this time round I'll only use the materials where appropriate rather than taking a "yeah that'll do attitude". I can salvage the chestnut posts and spiles, (half round posts with a spike on the end), from my existing build to use in the walls of the new smithy as well as the 12ft floor boards I was given by a builder, (who I am told has more to give me), but this time round I'll plan the build properly around the set dimensions of things like OSB board. I'll definitely hire a small digger this time round and more than likely I'll employ my cousin for a few days as he does a lot of ground works, as well as a mate who's a carpenter and use the fact that my uncle is the manager of a well known UK builders merchant. If I surround myself with people who know what they're doing then things can only run smoother.

Cheers Colleen, my Dad suggested something similar - digging trenches and laying some pipe in, drilling holes in the top of the pipe and running it off towards the ditch. Keep 'em coming folks :-)

Cheers, i'll check it out. I'll buy whatever materials are needed to do it right. With something like pea gravel is it as simple as digging out the higher end of the ground so it's level with lower then spreading the gravel out or is there more ground works envolved? I'll be tearing down my little smithy-shack to make way for the new proper smithy so it'll be in the same spot. Admitedly when i dug out a flat surface last time round it was raining which really didn't help, but the clay is a killer nonetheless. I'm wondering if hiring a digger is sensible, my back went through hell last time...and this will be bigger!

Cheers for all the replies folks, i have always secretly leaned towards building something myself but your replies have helped me know it's the right option. I'm happy enough to have a earth floor but where i live a few inches down it's clay so the ground gets very wet, sticky & slippery, plus the shop site is on a slight slope so i need to even out & firm up the ground. I've been told about Geotextile & MOT type 2 aggregate which will help but are there any other products/methods i should be aware of that are simple enough for an idiot like me to make work?

Hi folks, I have an urgent dilema centred around buying a decent pre-fab or building a workshop myself. It's an urgent dilema because the company that makes the pre-fabs have a 15% sale on till the end of February and only a few dates open at the end of the month to install, so I need to make my mind up quickly as to whether I'm going to do it DIY or go pre-fab. The pre-fab is actually a mobile stable, (no floor, doesn't require foundations as it's on "skids" and goes straight onto flat ground), it is 24ft x 12ft with 2 sets of stable doors. It's this without the 4ft overhang at the front: http://www.charttimberbuildings.co.uk/page/equestrian/mobile-stables/mobile-stables-value The stable and carpenters arrive in the morning and by lunch time the stable is built. It costs £2233 which includes delivery and installation. Hassle free, 25 year guarentee, horses not included. Although 24ft is huge for me I am concerned that 12ft isn't very wide. If I built a shop, (albeit a very humble one, also with no floor), I'd make it 16ft x 20ft and I could do it for less than half the cost of the stable. Saving over £1000 really appeals to me, however I'm no carpenter and it'll take me a good couple weeks to build a shop and any time spent building is time not spent practicing blacksmithing. As soon as the company re-opens on Monday morning I'm going to ring to see if the dimensions could be 16ft x 20ft, however I know they the mobile stables are 12ft as standard because any wider and they'd buckle if moved, though I'd never want to move it. If the 16ft x 20ft stable isn't an option, do you think 12ft x 24ft is ok? I am a novice and only making small things at the minute but every thread I read in this forum has the advice "get as big as you can afford". Whilst I can afford the stable and a 24ft shop would see me long into the future, I don't want it to discover in a few weeks that 12ft is too shallow. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as my head's in a bit of a spin with this. Sorry that was so long winded!

Cheers for the detailed reply, you certainly have thought it through! Always interesting to see what other knowledge people have learnt because of/alongside blacksmithing. Interested to see what your smithy ends up like oldtimer...