Frosty Posted July 18, 2021 Share Posted July 18, 2021 Really nice shop you've built yourself. About not welding your roof trusses, isn't there a pond close by where you could've welded them up underwater? I was eyeballing connexes to build a shop and a local steel building company ended getting stiffed on a contract and had more than 20, 30' x 40' red iron steel buildings to sell cheap. I got mine for $3,000 complete. $3k would've covered the shipping containers not counting delivery. I'm a huge fan of shipping containers, I have one for secure storage. If I lived in tornado country I'd have one buried in the yard. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Darn! Frosty. Why didn't I think of that? That's what I love about IFI. You learn what to do NEXT time. Yeah, shipping containers have their drawbacks, but they are few. Living near New Orleans, they are usually available and not too expensive. I used a couple of 20 footers for a camp up in Osyka MS and their resistance to falling trees and other mayhem made me a believer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Glad to be of help. Let me know when you're planning something, I'm full of tips like that one. Shipping containers are or were cheap in Anchorage, the 20s cost more than 40s because they're popular and not as common. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 I love the containers as well.. Getting a good secure connection both to the ground and to the slab is a fantastic way to go especially the area you are in.. Pointing out burying 1 would be a great idea till the flood came in.. OUCH.. blurble, blurble.. Here we are about 1100ft up and while we have a high water table soil wise the risk of flood is non existent. We have had the rainiest July I can remember and its still raining out.. All the local streams and rivers are at flood stage.. Guess that takes care of the drought. Looks great, can't wait to see the rest of the build photos.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 If I recall about ten years ago, when I priced them the cost was 15,000 US dollars and the delivery charge was 8,000 US. Not practical for us, of course we are not anywhere near a port of entry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Next time you build, separate the two bottom containers so that a 3rd container can by used to cover and span the gap between them. You get a cover over the open space plus a sealable 3rd container in the process. Bolt all three containers together into one unit. The roof can then be put on to enclose the two side triangles plus a roof over the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Glenn - I was just funnin' with Frosty. I doubt seriously there will be a next build. Still, it's fun to think how to rig that and make it work. A couple of 20 ton chain falls on H beam gin poles on either side and leaning against the two boxes already in place. Make a short sling for each of the lower connection boxes. You should be able to pick it up high enough to let down and have it stay, leaning on the two boxes. You'd need to weld some guides so as you drag it up it can't slide off. Or rent a big forklift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 One more set of details: The front I made from panels of clear corrugated polycarbonate sheets. I put masking tape every few inches top to bottom, then sprayed it the same color as the boxes. I stripped off the tape and the painted side is the BACK side when installed. What I wanted was the ambiance of the old barn that had shrunken boards so you had streaks of light inside, you can kind of see out, but it's difficult to see in (not that I'm trying to hide). I can't say I duplicated the ambiance because too much light filters through the red, but it is nice. There is normally enough light for leather work. When I turn on the woodworking power tools, though, I use the overhead lights. The triangles on the side are doors. They open up to store long stock, pipe, boards etc. The middle doors are double doors made of cedar fence boards. Inside I have a Z pattern of 2X4. Outside straps are mild steel straps I cold forged before I'd built any of my forges. One day I'll put up a hand rail. It is handy to not have anything in the way when using my hoist, though. I sometimes sit up there with my Journey Overhead and pluck out a tune or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 That looks great. One of my customers used the clear poly sheets on the barn. Amazingly bright in there. So are the ends of the containers completely opened? Or still separated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 The ends of the 40 footers are open (as well as corresponding side areas of the 20 footer) and they are welded together at the top. The small gap down the out side sides are packed with backer rod and caulk. The welding wasn't called for in the plans, since with the weight and the anchors, these babies aren't going anywhere. My thought was that thermal expansion and contraction might eventually work that loose. That brings me to my next possible improvement. Where the sun beats down on it, that steel box gets really hot. When using my induction forge I can run a big drum fan that pulls air in one side and sends it out the other. I can't use that when my coal forge is fired up, though. I was thinking of what I could do on the south side to reduce the heat. I have about 15 acres of hardwoods (oak and hickory) at my camp in Mississippi. I was thinking of getting one of those chainsaw mills and turning my red barn into a faux log barn. Cut outside slabs, leave the bark on and use angle iron welded to the box to hold it in place. I have two concerns with that: trapped moisture and termites. It is amazing how fast untreated wood can decompose down here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 I've seen a lot of barns that had spaced vertical side boards as they were used to dry tobacco in them. Frosty; he's in Louisiana; all he has to do is wait for summer and all welding is underwater welding! (I remember reading about the aftermath of a hurricane and they were mentioning that they were now in a drought---they were down 3 times the annual precipitation that we get out here. We've had a thunderstorm most every day out here and the weeds are exploding with joy. It's going to be a bad fire season out here. Humidity is terrible, it's getting above 50% a lot of the time instead of the single digits we've adapted to. I guess it's trying to acclimate up for Quad State. As for cooling; what about making an off set wall that chimneys hot air up and out. For a big effect bury ductwork and pull air through that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 A lot of tobacco barns have hinged slats so that the airflow can be increased or decreased as needed. Particularly good if the tobacco in one part of the barn is drying faster or slower than it should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Off set wall... now that is an interesting thought. Between the cargo box corrugations and tin corrugations I could probably just attach it directly where the corrugations meet and still have plenty of flow. I also happen to have a plastic drain pipe buried a few feet from the south side of the building. It wouldn't work when its full of water, but then again, I don't need it when its raining. (Which has been a lot lately.) The only problem I foresee is how to keep all that hot air from coming up under the eaves and over heating up my upstairs work/play/sanctuary area. I suppose I could seal under the eaves and stop the off set wall a few inches from the top so as not to block the flow. I've been thinking about sealing off, insulating and installing an AC up there anyway. I keep and old iMac up there and ran ethernet (hard-wired) up there. Heat doesn't help electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Try to keep an air gap just under the roof, that is between the roof and the insulation. Leave the peak of the roof open, think ridge vent, for the air to escape as well as the opening at the bottom soffit. This lets hot air go up and out by normal convection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Vents in the gables help too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Kitten Forge Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 (edited) That's a really cool build! I considered getting a shipping container, but I'm not sure if they'd be able to get it to where i want it without a crane. Where did you get your containers? Edited July 19, 2021 by Mod30 Remove @name tag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Bullet Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 Mr. Anderson - There is a place in Pontchatoula where you can pick out the container you want. Since I knew what my plan was, I was able to buy damaged containers at a better price. You just have to make sure the damage is in areas you are cutting out anyway. I bought from them for my camp in Osyka as well. I don't know where you have in mind, but the truck that delivered my boxes to Osyka couldn't get to where I wanted. Fortunately I had lots of trees around so I cut some long logs and used them for rollers. I used a smallish (27hp) Kubota tractor to help skid them. Then I set 6 cross ties in concrete around the boxes and jacked them up about 3- 1/2 ft off the ground. I should have gone 4 ft. because a few years later it flooded my generator. Flood didn't move the container though. I had the tractor stored in it and it didn't get hurt at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisCA Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 Latest pics of mine. Still working on the roof. Not sure when I'll be able to fix the exterior panelling, when I find cheap enough wood. To be quite honest, it's perhaps wrong to call this my smithy or shop. It'll be more a storage unit. It's actually BEHIND the shop I plan to put my blacksmithing stuff once the shop is finished. It'll be a leanto with a metal sheet roof and walls and the area will be a little smaller than the interior of the shop. Reason is I gotta share this space with others in the family. And turning it into a smithy is not realistic or good for stuff I will store there, it'll also be easier to put a chimney in the roof of a simple leanto for the forge. And it'll be a little more secluded. But for now, this winter I am gonna be moving my smithing stuff, anvil and forge into here temporarily. I got some old sheet metal roofing I am thinking I'll screw up on the walls around the forge area. But I dunno, maybe I need to drag it outside for any actual work since there is no chimney and a spark might be disastrous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 If your forge is near the door, you can have a mobile flue, like the one I use for my coal forge: (NB: Since this photo was taken, I've mounted the flue and its supports on a wheeled dolly, which makes it much easier to move in and out.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted September 4, 2021 Share Posted September 4, 2021 Entrance to the workshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted September 4, 2021 Share Posted September 4, 2021 Wonderfully planned and executed.. Very nice Alexandr Dennis that will work very well as a shop... Very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted September 4, 2021 Share Posted September 4, 2021 Purple Bullet, We saw several news reports from La Place after Ida did her damage dance. Hope your family, pets, house and container shop didn't sustain any significant damage (from the reports, La Place had severe damage from the storm). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 4, 2021 Share Posted September 4, 2021 Prayers have been going out for everybody in the storm's track. Let us know how you're faring please. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Kitten Forge Posted September 5, 2021 Share Posted September 5, 2021 I'm in baton rouge. For the most part, there's not much actual damage here other than a few areas where tornados spun off of the hurricane. I just got power back at home, I'm starting to feel human again. It was 82F inside with high humidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted September 5, 2021 Share Posted September 5, 2021 A lot of my friends in the Northeast saw a LOT of rain. The drain in the back yard of my daughter’s building in Brooklyn, NY got clogged by a plastic bag, and water started flooding into the basement apartment behind hers. Fortunately, they got it unclogged before the water got to her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now