Avadon

ROFL!! nice

Don't ever feel you have to compete with the big box stores! That is a total dead end down a one way street. Why would you? You need to convey it in 1000 ways to sunday that you ARE CUSTOM! If they want the look that everyone else has then by all means go to lowes or depot. You need to let them know that having original blacksmith work is obviously more expensive but clearly comes with a prestige that is worth far beyond anything they can buy from lowes. This kind of language you need all over your website and brochures. Never make a customer feel that going to the big box is the right idea. Let them know that what your doing is the genuine article and anything less will not be authentic, and also may not actually hold up, match the theme, look good, be warrantied, etc. (your sales pitch) Make the customer know that you are not APPLES TO APPLES with Lowes!! You are Ferarri to Apples and there is an ENORMOUS difference between the two. The more your customer knows this the more they will realize that wherever they can they should buy from you. This is the tactic i've used for the last 8 years of business and it's always worked. I simply tell the customers straight out of the gate that "I don't compete with big manufacturers... why would I do such poor work?" and I show them why my stuff is better, backed by replacement, installed properly, etc. Essentially her argument is "Why would I buy a Ducati Motorcycle when a Bicycle will still get me from place to place." You're argument is "The Ducati motorcycle is the most choice driving experience available and the best buy for the discerning customer" Don't defend or attack her argument. Simply present your own smarter and stronger argument. If you can't convince the customer that way then there was little hope to begin with. Those samples are a good idea but I wouldn't try to compete in price to lowes. Make a few at different price ranges from cheaper to much more expensive. You often don't really know how deep a customers wallet is until they see something they just LOVE and have to have from you. ;)

What is a good weight Hofi hammer for starting bladework?

This is actually all I was asking about lol found them on digikey and there are probably others on msc now that I think of it. Turns out they do make something like this.. whether or not these will work specifically for what I'm doing needs some investigation. 3 position selector switch 2 position selector switch

I'll just put them all on separate lines then. I just thought there was something like a bank of plugs attached to an A, B, C, D style dial selector so your only running one machine at a time but you can just select over to another machine. This way you wouldn't be running three 220 lines over to one side of a shop where you only ever use one machine at a time. For example you wouldn't use a drill press, sander, or power hammer, etc. at the same time if your just one person in a shop. Compressor was probably not a good example as that IS something that should really be on it's own line so you can let it kick on whenever it's low. Thanks

Not looking to "get cheap," simply looking for the most practical way to do it.

Anyone know if there is a gadget or a trick for running several 220V pieces of machinery on the same line. Do they make like a selector switch for this? I know if you got compressor on one side of the shop and your welding on the other chances are they need their own line. But if you have a compressor with a 220v sander near it, it seems like there would be a better way then running endless 220V lines for each piece of equipment. What do they do in big shops where they have dozens of 220v machines? Do they really use a dedicated line for each? Is that best? Or is there a simpler way for the home shop?

Yah I tend to think 3 220's is a bare minimum for most of us. For me it's Compressor 220v 30Amp, TIG Welder 220v 30Amp, KMG Belt Grinder 220v 30Amp and down the road I hope to have a drill press and power hammer and those might need their own lines as well. Some things just need a dedicated line. Other times I've put machinery on plugs which is a quick fix to get them up and running till you really know how they're going to be used and where your going to use them, before permanently putting them in place. It also allows you to unplug one unit and plug in another. Like I used to run my dryer and my compressor off the same outlet by plugging/unplugging either or when i needed them. Sorta irritating but I only did wash once a week or two so really wasn't a big deal. You just have to keep those 220V cords quite short. 6' max is what they reccomend.

As Thomas suggested I put so many outlets in my last shop I never needed anything more than a simple short 10' extension cord. Occasionally when I'd do work outside I'd need long extension cords. For that I just had a few rubberized hooks that screw into the wall and hang several wrapped up long extension cords from them. I wrap my extension cords in a figure eight and then I use these velcro ties you can get at Lowes to hold them really tight. This way they never go into a big yarn spool of knots but stay nice, tight, and neat, and I can toss extensions cords into the back of a truck without them going crazy. Velcro ties look like these. They go around one length of cord and then they secure the bundle. Works very well.

HOA's are a function of the community. "They" is really "Us" (the people who live here) and I happen to being moving into one of the largest and highest populated HOA's in rural Oregon. So if the area needs a composting facility it will go into discussion and vote and you can go speak out against it. They also, as per the hoa rules, can't violate the bylaws set up to protect you and the area which have clauses about which areas are communal and for commercial use. Hoa's are a mixed bag, they can help you or they can hinder you. In more urban areas they might be more of a nuisance while in more rural areas they could be more of a blessing. It's a case by case situation. One cannot say they are only good or only bad. They are great if they plow your street in the winter, keep the community park in your area cleaned and mowed for your children, and stop that one cooky neighbor from turning his property into a landfill. Yet obviously bad if they are out there measuring your grass, telling you to close your garage, or what color you can paint your house. These are things to look into and know before buying. There were a few places, Creswell being one of them where there was no HOA's and the houses in that area were in such disrepair and the lots had literal garbage heaps (waste, decaying trash bags with housing waste spilling out), rusting auto's half melted into the earth, and decayed building materials and misc trash and debris EVERYWHERE. It was such an eyesore you seriously could not buy a foreclosure in the area. You'd just never be able to resale it. I mention this because this is the extreme the other direction. You worry about the HOA sanctioned composting facility which may be a legitimate concern; I worry about the next door neighbor who wants to turn his property into a composting facility(and I want the HOA to protect me). Both are valid concerns. Your father is right on about CCR's. In the area I'm moving into there was virtually no eforcement of the CCR's which were extremely little (basically bare minimum of health and public safety that you'd expect in that county). So this meant the HOA couldn't research, notify, or fine people who's practices were posing a danger to the health and safety of the public. They also had little to no control over nuisance animals, "pets gone wild" off of peoples properties. When the HOA changed it's board out they started to denote more time looking into flagrant behavior and followed up on, albeit small amount of, nuisance claims. Now, as I said before the devil is in the details about what those nuisances are. If it's a rabid dog that attacked your child that is something that you want the HOA to get serious on, but if the nuisance is weeds in the cracks of your driveway it's another thing. This is why you have to research this before buying and get a feel for the direction of the community. Clearly one (nearly all blacksmiths) shouldn't buy into the stepford style-cookie-cutter suburb if you are allergic to lawn maintance, noise abatement, and being told what to do.

Bob, I just moved from Cape Cod in June where I was renting and I bet there probably was some sort of HOA in that little town, similar to something you experienced. The NE can be a crowded place, especially near the coast, lakes, resorts, attractions, even some prized forest areas. They should be giving blacksmiths grants and funding and ability to afford places and not pushing us out of county limits with restrictions. It's really a shame. No commercial activity doesn't seem to bad for what we do as most of us are doing private work as a hobby with no commercial foot traffic to our place. If your setting up a smith available to the public than you really have to run it like your setting up a commercial store front and in that case I could see neighbors needing to know that your in a area licensed to do that. If my neighbor was going to paint cars commercially next door to me I'd be a little concerned about fumes, draft, fire, etc. I suppose if he kept it on the down-low I wouldn't mind so much, but I'm sure others might. My advice to any smith, metal worker, sculptor, or artist doing fabrication and living in a vacation-summer-resort area is to GET OUT! Flee.. why you still can! lol I'm temporarily staying in a condo in such a resort type place and I've been pulled over twice. Once for going 28 in a 25. The other time for not being on a cell phone (I had my head resting on my hand). These types of places don't give you room to breathe. As you said, people from the city bring their uptight mannerisms to bear and they expect a very sterile and conservative way of living where individuality is not terribly welcome on your property. "HOAs don`t make good neighbors,reasonable people willing to get along and help each other make good neighbors." I partially agree with that. Hoa's don't bake you cookies or allow you to borrow the lawn mower. However in my area they help maintain the community pool. An olympic size pool that everyone has access to year round and can be privately rented. My dues also plow the unpaved road I live on as well as keep up the BLM(open land) and trails. They provide for street sweeping, clearing of debris on the road, road maintance (we have very good paved roads out here which is part of the reason I don't mind my short unpaved street), provide discount for those wishing to use the golf courses (about 15 mins away), etc. Those fee's also go to things like community events, free-breakfasts/dinners, small parades, and go to aid or help fund raise community projects. This is not something the nearby city(20 mins away) of a few thousand people would ever care about or help us with. Were to far away and the budget for that city is near nothing. Without HOA's I really wonder if a non-incorporated area could operate very well. Plus these are very nominal fee's. Unlike some places in California where the hoa's can be quite expensive $100+ a month. At those prices you better love whatever those fee's are providing (golfing, fitness center, pool, etc). One might find that Portland, parts of Corvalis, Eugene and even Medford/Grants pass might have HOA's with CCR's like you described above. The valley is getting rather congested in Oregon. However central and eastern oregon are another animal altogether. Those housing associations are developed when the housing areas are built. Up here they will build areas of 1acre parcel's by the dozens in small communities while in other places they will do something similar mixing 5-10acre parcels together. It's a pretty good system they got up here if your looking for small acreage. Central and Eastern Oregon are actually quite nice places to live. Just make sure you have money or work lined up. Our economy is hurting. It's a buyers market. As you can see.. even these home depicted below are part of a HOA, even though they are on 5+ acres and you can pretty much do anything you want. None of the things you described above about your property would ever be an issue. You can see in second pic just how far you are from neighbors too. So I think it's quite different out here. If you ever think about relocating to more freedom lol look us up.

Here's kind of a case in point of why HOA's are a good idea... These are part of the CCR's in my area. If your driveway is less than 150 feet long, the minimum driveway width is 14 feet. If your driveway is 150 feet or more long, the minimum driveway width is 20 feet. We would like you to have one or more turnouts on the longer driveways. This gives us a place to stage our apparatus while leaving the driveway open for evacuation or access by other apparatus. Obviously, the wider the driveway is, the easier it is for us to access it with our apparatus. If possible, a circular driveway, or at least a 40' - 50' "all weather" - surfaced turn around area near your house, should be provided. Your driveway must be covered with an "all weather" surface. (Gravel, asphalt, etc.) ROCKS: Please do not line your driveway with rocks! Although it is a convenient way to get rid of the rocks on your property, it can make it very difficult to maneuver our apparatus around, and may possibly cause damage to the apparatus. In the event of a fire, rocks cause a tripping hazard to firefighters, and make it extremely difficult to maneuver our hoses, as they get hung up on the rocks. In the wintertime, we may need to plow your driveway to gain access for our apparatus in an emergency. Rock lined driveways make this much more difficult! TREES: Please trim trees near your driveway! Most of our apparatus (ambulances, fire engines, etc.) are taller and less maneuverable than your vehicles. Overhanging branches obstruct access, and cause damage to the apparatus. Please trim up any branches that overhang your driveway to at least 10 feet above the driveway. ARCHWAYS: DO NOT build archways over your driveway that are lower than 15' tall at the lowest point, and not less than the minimum driveway width. It is imperative that we have plenty of overhead clearance for our apparatus and any neighboring Fire Departments' apparatus that may be assisting us. GATES: Gates should not be less than 12 feet wide. We would prefer that gates be a minimum of 16' wide, especially if the gate is placed near the roadway. It is very difficult for us to turn any of our apparatus thru a narrow gate placed near the roadway. For information on the placement of your address sign, where to get an address sign, or how to replace an existing address sign, see Emergency Address Signs Clearly abiding by these rules are for not only your own benefit but for the benefit of the community and your neighbors. If the local F.D. can't put out your house fast enough because they are caught on a rock in your driveway you may stall their response to the fire and incur damage to those properties around you. Live in a place where there is no HOA and you may find out first hand that common sense is not so common with some people. Especially when they decide to rock off their driveway, build ATV jumps and telephone poles with lights on them so they can practice in the evening, or turn their entire lot into a junkyard. It might seem far fetched but it happens a great deal and I saw many rural areas in oregon where this is happening. Sure, you'll say well I won't move next to them. That's fine but what stops someone from building or doing that? By law there is no stopping them without a HOA to petition. Your next door neighbor who you believe is going to be civilized and responsible may turn out to be anything but. I can't see any reasonable person throwing a tantrum because the CCR's state where they would like your address listed and placed approximately on your property for police and fire dept. When your place is on fire you'll be glad the fire truck can read your numbers. However the lax rules of one set of CCR's in the country do not mean that your house in the burbs won't have extremely strict CCR's. In more urban areas your home is a direct reflection upon the market value of surrounding homes, thus the housing association might become real cozy with you about any disrepair of your property.

HOA ---> CCR (you cannot lump the restrictions of many CCR's onto every HOA) You can have HOA fee's with extremely little CCR's. HOA fees are not a reason not to buy a home. Throughout oregon large parcels of land 5-20 acres + are part of HOA's. It simply means there is an assocation that monitors the area. The association may do nothing but monitor a golf course 15 mins away or be an association that aids monitoring and facilitating utility issues, road care or snow removal. The area i'm buying in has no CCR's. The only restrictions are going to be city law and building codes, things of the nature you'll find no matter where on the planet you are. Often if your not part of a housing development area (parcels of land strictly for the purpose of living) you may not have HOA fee's. However the guy next to you might turn his lot into a car dealership. There is a reason why HOA fee's are important. If you look at it through the lens of all negative and avoid them like the black plague you might find out your neighbor wants to build a ski jump or motorcross arena in their back yard. Yes there are good reasons why HOA's exist. Even in extremely rural areas they help protect home owners from people who might want to engage in commercial activity or use the property for something untrue to its original intent (a parking lot, mobile home campground, or sports field). Generally it's the CCR's that you want to read carefully. About half the homes I looked at from 1 to 5 acres where in some kind of housing assocation. Even way out in farm land they were still part of a housing assocation. Now this is Oregon, I can't attest to what other states I haven't lived in are like. Some places in california have insane CCR's in their housing assocation. Out here in the sticks the HOA is about 25$ a month and it does virtually nothing except for upkeeping a local golf course and its grounds, repairing potholes in the area (because were off city roads) and plowing (again were off city roads). That money I believe also goes into other recreational and communal activities for the area that benefit the community in that area. Again there is no restrictions on what I can do with my house or what I can do on my property that are beyond what I could do by law in that county side from having to use the land for it's original purpose of residential use. So to conclude HOA's can really vary depending on what your a part of. In a city they are going to have CCR's, some which might be scary. Out in the country the HOA is never going to tell you what house colors are acceptable, notice you because you have to tall of grass, or left your trash cans out. It's just patently false to say all Home owners assocations work that way. They absolutely do not. Most people have lived in a subdivision where the HOA had strict CCR's in order to up keep the appearance and resell of the subdivision. Here hobbies and practices might be highly regulated. To say that the HOA is going to be different from a subdivision to living far out in the country on acreage is a MAJOR UNDERSTATEMENT. In many of the HOA zoned areas of acreage I've seen people who have all their tools all over the ground, car parts, rotting cars, building materials, etc. Some places can be literally so trashy that you would not want to live next to them. The HOA doesn't specify any care or state of functioning for the land. If it's your neighbor who's turned his lot into a perverbial junkyard you may actually wish for some restrictions, especially if your trying to sell your home. The devil is in the details and those details are the CCR's. Anytime you buy a place that has a HOA you want to know what those CCR's are ESPECIALLY if your in a city or suburban development. This is where the horror stories come into play. Generally though many of the stories are blown out of proportion and the good things the HOA takes care of for you are quite commonly overlooked. Here is a decent article on the subject. Hoa's good or bad? For what we do HOA's in a city or subdivision are obviously going to be potentially restricting. However you could live next to awesome neighbors and never hear a peep about your hammering. However if your doing a lot of endless hammering on a small lot your almost antagonizing your neighbors unfairly. This is why I specifically moved to the country where lots of people have small business in their homes, space is cheaper, and people are generally friendlier and will put up with more. To summarize, ones results and conceptions with HOA's are going to be a product of the area they live in. If you don't want to be restricted live in area of home owners where restrictions are negligible or virtually non-existent.

Sure does, doesn't it. But birches don't flop over like that from what i've seen. That's why I'm curious. Unless someone here is certain I'll probably have to print out the pic and take it to a garden center. Strange tree in a strange place. Might remove it just because it blocks my living room window.

? Que ? Don't know why you would have egg on your face unless you were finishing breakfast. You were right closed cell insulation isn't good for sound proofing. It's the open cell insulation that is as good or better than fiberglass batt's. Of course I don't know, until I talk to a pro as to whether it's the insulation to stop my type of noise. Mostly the noise I'm trying to barrier is angle grinder, compressor, and anvil/sheet metal work. I would say that's fairly low noise except for the sheetmetal work which can be kinda tinny. (i just made up that word lol) One thing I figured out is that from looking at my pics that the roof doesn't have any insulation in it. So the first thing will be to fiberglass insulate the roof. Then I can start on the wall that faces my neighbor which is the most important wall. Than the side walls. The back wall i'm least worried about as that would be the wall if I were to ever expand the garage rearward (adding depth) to the shop. B)

oopps forgot to attach here it is.

Can anyone tell me what kind of tree this is? It's crazy close to my house and shop. My fear is this is one of those weeping willows that grow 40' tall and grow huge in all directions. Why the previous owner felt the need to plant trees so darn close to the house is beyond me. During the housing inspection going to have to make sure roots aren't to close to the house. I have a strong feeling this tree has to be pulled up and moved.

HOA fee's are pretty common throughout Oregon.. not to be confused with Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC*R's). Most places have some HOA fee's because there is snow plowing, community water or sceptic, or a nearby gold resort or other such thing in the area. This area I'm trying to buy is way out in the country. NO CCR's out there. You still would want to get a permit before you built anything. You also need a fire permit from the local fire dept to open burn. Also you can't discharge guns on your property. Some places you can and some places you can't offroad. Beyond that you can do pretty much whatever you like. This is pretty standard for rural parts of oregon. You'll be hard pressed to find a place with no hoa fees. As most homes, even homes far out of the city on acreage are usually part of some community or incorperated land. It's the CC&R's you have to worry about. Those are the people who walk around and knock on your door because you left your empty garbage cans out for 2 days in a row or because you painted your front door the wrong color. CC&R's have to be reviewed before you purchase otherwise you could be in for some real head butting with the local housing assocation and it's snitches.. err I mean appointed officers.

Insulation comparison From this it sounds like open cell might actually be better than the fiberglass batt. I wonder how staggered wall fiberglass batt holds up to open cell in 2x4's as far as sound proofing goes.

Ahh so there really is a reason why for sound rooms they use that staggered stud 2x6 construction? I thought there might be a better product I could fit in those 2x4 walls without having to widen the walls. Where does that pink sheathing fit into this equation. Do people ever use both the firebglass insulation and the pink sheathing? Is that any better for sound proofing a shop?

I've been watching videos on closed cell insulation in 2x4 walls. Closed cell construction This stuff is really cool. Rather expensive.. but they are getting an R22 in just a 2x4 wall. I bet this really offer excellent sound dampening as well. Downside is it can be spendy.

This is true. That extra R value will really help keep the warm in because the temp drops at night into the 20-40's depending on the time of the year. I also think it will help keep the cool in during the summer. Of course a lot of this is also dependent on how insulated the ceiling joists are.

Very cool. Yes this is quite near what i'm thinking. Looks like a quality construction. I have full on welding capability so I could totally weld a lot of stuff if I can keep the cost of materials down. Salvage is the order of the day. Saved some of your pics for reference. :D

RE: crazy high interest rates.. that's what my parents tell me. That just seems so unreasonable to pay anything over 5%. I mean calculate for yourself what a 200K mortgage works out to. When I did the math it was nearly 170K of interest alone (remember there are fee's, HOA's, title insurance, home insurance, etc). I kind of thought when I first started looking that I wanted a 150-200K place. Who wouldn't. But when you start to realize that your making that $1200 payment 360 times spread out over 30 years. It's startling. If you work with your hands $1200 is a heck of a lot of money for one person to produce every month. Even $1000.00 can be tricky. You have to make nearly 3 times this amount to get a loan. I couldn't see doing that on blacksmithing wages running my own company. So foreclosure seemed to be the best route. Although hunting foreclosures can be tricky and time consuming. Some where just trailers from the 70's.. single or double wide.. that were just literally falling apart. Many were tear downs and others just needed far to much remodeling work for a single person to immediately want to take on. I like a challenge and I don't mind doing some painting, re-carpeting, addition, etc. but there comes a point where you have to say forget it. However if you do look long enough some reasonable foreclosures in the 50-100k range do show up. These are fairly reasonable for younger buyers, easier to get a loan and the payments are much smaller (few hundred bucks) making it quite unlikely you'll ever default. I wonder if using a lot of fire resistant plywood will just echo the sound out of the shop? I haven't seen any rubber products yet. I have seen special drywall that is sound proof rated (supposedly as deadening as 7 sheets of dry wall), and I have seen little metal/rubber clips that dampen drywall. Neither of which I really want. Maybe I can still use the plywood with some dampening thing behind it. Going to 6" studs I'm not that sure will really dampen the sound. Sure it will increase the insulation (hot/cold) capacity.. but as for sound, I have to wonder.