Dewnmoutain

Whew! lots of info from Frosty. It's good stuff, but i'll have to apply it to my true workshop that'll be built 5 years from now. just for further info, my shop is just a free standing converted carport with metal siding extended to the ground. Open dirt for a floor. It would rain out, and since i screwed up with laying the metal sheets down, it would leak into my shop. I fixed this issue, but still have some leaking in other areas, like my pipe for exhausting the coal smoke. I went with a huge 12inch diameter pipe, which works well, but i didnt put a cap on it to prevent rain from coming down the pipe. Plus, the hole i cut for the pipe is about 6 inches too big, so i took a piece of scrap sheet metal and put it up there to cover the original hole. Well, that leaks pretty bad as well since the base roof is ridged and doesnt line up properly with the scrap metal piece put into place. So it's a hot mess up there, and it's another thing i am planning on fixing for my shop. honestly, id love to do Frosty's suggestion. Xxxx it'd be easy because i could just put my structure on a sled and move it out of the way and build the area up. But, my budget is between $100 and $150. i can get dirt for free from my county land fill, pile that up around the edge of the building, to encourage the water to flow away from it. i can also dig a trench and do that "french drain" system Frosty talked about. Now that im sitting here thinking about this, and figuring this out, it would probably help if i filled in the gaps between the walls i made for the ends of the car ports to enclose the structure.

clay is pretty deep around here. vaguely remember hearing somewhere that its around 6-12 feet, but doing some research from available online sources, im thinking that the clayey layer is sooooooo much deeper. My though was initially, compacting the shop floor to an even layer, fill with pebbles, compact, cover with sand or dirt, compact again, and leave it be. But now, talking to a friend, and reading Thomas' post, i think i could get away with installing a border tile around the inside of the shed, and have it lead out to my ditch that's about 30 feet away. Of course, i still have to re-level the floor, but that can be held off until im sure that my water issues have "drained" away.

It rained this past weekend here in wisconsin. and, no surprise, my shop flooded. I took a couple pictures a day after it rained, so some of the water had drained, but as you can see, theres some water issues in my shop. With the slow rate at which the water drains from my area due to high clay content in the dirt, it takes upwards of several days for the shop to be dry enough for me to utilize without tearing my up floor. Sure, i can use it a couple days later, but i'll be tearing out chunks of dirt clinging to my boots as i move about. Frustrating. I know, i just need to suck it up and redo the floor in my shop. I just need to figure out what to put down thatll keep the floor dry, or at the very least increase the ease of water drainage so im not waiting days for a floor to dry. I tried adding the photos directly here, but it keeps saying that there is an issue with the upload. I just went ahead and put a link in to the imgur site. Link removed Your image was 42 inches x 56 inches in size and 35 megs. I reduced the size to less than 100kB.

fair point. mid-size, to me, is items that range from 2feet through 8feet in length. Large would be 8feet to 15 feet, and "i cant fit in my shop...yet" is beyond 15 feet.

US Army 25Charlie, radio guy who was made into an IT guy. 2005-2009, 18th Airborne Corps HHQ deployed to iraq Feb 2008 to Apr 2009

Please allow us to interview YOU. The following questions are sample questions, and are simply a place to start the interview. 1) Name Adam J 2) Location North of Two Rivers wi 3) What type blacksmithing do you do, what do you make. At the moment, just some small to midsize items. Lot's of hooks, stands, curtain rods, home improvement/decoration/utility items 4) How and when did you get started in blacksmithing: I picked up blacksmithing in 2016. I started it because of Forged in Fire. My wife kept asking me questions about how/what the smiths were making and why, and i got to the point where i didnt know. So i said "fuck it, ill build a forge and see what happens" and off i went. I picked up the pace when i became disabled and couldnt work anymore. 5) What object or thing did you use as your first anvil. I found a 4 foot long piece of railroad track that i used as my first anvil. i ended up forgetting to pick it up after i moved, and when i went back to grab it, the new owners had thrown it away. i cried...a lot. i still cry about it. 6) Tell us about your first forge, hole in the ground, camp fire, brake drum, stacked bricks. 1st forge was a brake drum forge. That lasted all of 2 weeks until i snagged my neighbors grill he was throwing away. I replaced the bottom with 3/8s inch steel plate, ran a hair dryer for a blower, and steel pipe with holes cut into it for a modified teuyere. It worked well enough to last 6 months until i bought a fire pot. Once i had the fire pot, i made my own forge, got a proper hand crank blower, and used that outside for about a year after. With that setup, i had no overhead structure, so i was out in the sun, and even forged a couple times in the middle of a blizzard cuz it was awesome! 7) Who assisted you or encouraged you in the craft. My wife did. Otherwise, i was on my own 8) What event changed your attitude about blacksmithing. Watching the TV show forged in fire, if it wasnt for that show, id still be sitting here thinking about doing it. 9) What tool has changed or made your life easier in the shop. The 100foot extension cord. Allowed me to have a light in my shop and i could close the door to my shop. before this i had to keep the door open and all sorts of crap flew in, wind, rain, since it was my only light source. once i ran the cord for light, i could close up the door and was able to properly see what i was working on. 10) What advice would you give those starting out in blacksmithing. $50 and you can make your own coffee can forge. cheap way to figure out if you want to actually get into blacksmithing. If you dont like it, you only spent $50, if you do like it, well then, you can build upon that basic setup and slowly grow. Also, if you do like it, find someone to teach you, either by class or, if youre lucky, by apprenticeship. 11) What advice would you give those already involved in blacksmithing. Keep on helping those that ask for it. I, for one, appreciate the help when i can find it! 12) What are some of the interesting things that have happened to you in your life as a blacksmith. i actually was on the show Forged in Fire. I know, they were desperate. aside from that, ive made some knives for family members, made utilitarian items for around the house, and have managed to burn my beard while lighting a cigarette using hot steel. I dont recommend that last bit. very surprising. Please add any thing we may have missed or should have asked. I would ask "what's your trouble spot?" or "where do you need help?" i personally, am struggling, especially with the virus going on. It's limited my ability to ask my local blacksmith, a guy who is a hobbyist who takes his time to help me. Im trying to go from the "amateur" status of what my projects look like to "semi-professional", along with increasing my knowledge on the hows/whys/what'its of the craft. Overall, im just trying to become better at blacksmithing, to achieve a state that i know i am capable of getting to (although, to be honest, my mental deficiancy due to combat PTSD and memory loss issues makes this very very difficult in achieving)

Why are Chandler and dirty smith not linked? reason is a bit vague