Hello people, my name is Mart. I'm 33 and for the last 3 years I've lived in Alaska. Although I'm an avid outdoorsman and spend alot of time camping, rock/ iceclimbing, and hiking, I've found, even with work, that I have alot of time on my hands. Last year I re-enlisted into the Army Reserve after being out of the service for almost ten years and I'm due for my re-enlistment bonus. I've decided to put a hefty chunk of it towards setting myself up a little blacksmithing shop. I've always been interested in smithing and I've spent the last year researching and planning. I've read quite a bit but nothing beats hands on knowledge. I'm building a small shop from the ground up and I have a good idea of what I want to do but still have alot of questions. There is alot of information out there but I could use recommendations on books covering shop layout and such. Thankyou

This book has several shop layout plans, and was originally published in the 19th century. It's a collection of articles from an old blacksmithing newsletter. It also has plans for coal forges and shop tables.

Amazon.com: Practical Blacksmithing, Part One (Volumes 1 and 2): Books: M. T. Richardson

I have all the books recommended so far and think those are terrible recommendations for someone learning the craft, ESPECIALLY the Bealer book. That is the worst. The Richardson books are fun reading and have good info, but not much use as a tutorial.

The best books I've seen so far are the Peter Parkinson "The Artist Blacksmith" and the George Dixon "A Blacksmiths Craft".

However, better than any of the other recommendations so far are the free downloads from the UK:

Craft publications

They are very good books at any price, so for free they are the best deal around.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/free-blacksmithing-books-web-2032/#post15592 Lookee here. The book I recommended can be read on the internet.

Tyler: The Richardson books are okay; I've read them cover to cover at least twice. But they aren't meant to be a tutorial and there is almost no quality check on the sources for the articles. It is a bit like reading the forum here. You take your chances with the validity and experience of the authors. I wasn't recommending the CoSira books because they were free; I was recommending them because they are very good. They also happen to be very accessible and free, but as a text they are among the best written anywhere.

Mart: I learned more about what I wanted in a shop from visiting lots of shops and working in them whenever possible. So much of a shop layout depends on the work you do now, and intend to do in the future. For instance, the single biggest improvement I made recently was a 4' x 8' decent layout table. There is nothing like a nice thick flat table for making a joy of working with complex pieces. But you won't read a lot about its importance in many blacksmithing sources. You can make do without it, but work is so much nicer with it. I'm not recommending you run out and buy a layout table this week. My point is that a shop is a workspace to do the things you want to do and will be different for every person. So far more useful than any book is taking time to go visit the best smiths you can find and see how they work. Then use the books as refresher and supplement.

Ed Thomas, did Mart ask for a tutorial? No. This isn't rocket science! You can get many ideas from the book I recommended that you may not get anywhere else. This goes for all books. Saying that these books are a "terrible recommendation for someone learning the craft" is crazy.

Mart, First, HOWDY form East Texas! now about books, ideas, etc....The above mentioned books are good, some better than others, yes. One not mentioned is a new book by Lorelei Sims : The Backyard Blacksmith. check out Lorelei Sims - Artist Blacksmith / Welcome to the Vortex of Hot Metal Yea, she's a Lady but a DARNED GOOD blacksmith!! Jim Carothers was at my house this a.m. and he had the book in his truck. He told me it was one of the best books on blacksmithing he had read. Also check out other shops, as Ed Thomas mentioned above. Ask to spend a day with them, working their layout. You may take ideas from several different smiths and come up with something that works best for you. And like anything else, you can start with someone else's way and tweak it to suit you. Good luck, and Oh yeah, WELCOME to IFI.

I've spent a lot of money on books, read them all carefully, and tried to use them over the years. I have talked with other professional smiths about many of these and come to the conclusion that not all these books are actually "good" books, especially if used other than intended. Bealer's book has confounded more people than I can count and is nearly useless for anything other than reading a quaint writing by a man who was not a good blacksmith. Weyger's book is only marginally better. The Richardson books are a good resource, but I personally think that the shop layouts recommended in them aren't appropriate for a beginning home shop.

If I don't say these things, with my prior knowledge of working in several blacksmith shops and building several of my own, then I am remiss.

I hope my comments steer people to good choices for their money, and help them gain better forging skills. My feeling is that if everyone gets very good and has shops where they enjoy working, the quality of forged work goes up. Then the expectations of customers will go up and we all benefit.

(laughing in the shadows!) Thanks you guys!
Oh, btw, welcome to the forum Mart! Good luck in Alaska!

Mart: I would recommend you make everything portalbe/movable when you first set it up. After you work with it a while you will find things you want to change. Once you have come up with the best arrangement for "you" then you can anchor everything solidly. An arrangement that is ideal for one person can be another's nightmare. Remember the only correct layout is what works best for you.

Woody

Thanks for the feedback Woody. It follows what I've been hearing and reading. I usually follow the six " P's" rule. Prior Planning Prevents Xxxx Poor Performance. I know I'll have to make some changes as I go along but I'm plan on taking the time to make sure they are " small" changes. Once again thank you for the input. Mart

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. I have until summer to come up with a floor plan. First things first, a roof and four walls. For almost two weeks we had gusting(60-70mph) winds that put our temp down into the 20-30 below range so a good amount of time and money is going into building the shop itself. The biggest problem I forsee is proper ventilation of the building. I don't think cracking open a few windows in a wind storm is the best thing to do....LOL I can tell you all one thing. Planning this has been a good time. I can't wait till it all comes together!

Be sure to keep us posted on what you figure out about the venting up there. I think it would be very handy to know.

And welcome.