matto Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 hi all it has been a while, i have moved from golden co. to kearney ne. i miss the members in the rocky mountain smiths. have not yet had or made time to contact the praire blacksmiths in nebraska. i am a nebraska kid and am glad to be back here. i have a couple of great prodjects coming up. one is my own shop is finally getting started in an old ware house down town. the other is a new/old blacksmith shop i am helping build at the trails and rails museum in kearney. it is going to be a 50 x 25 foot shop part of it will be based off of an original shop from kearney and the rest will be an educational shop with multipal forges set up for classes on basic smithing. we will be taring down an old barn for most of the material for the shop. it will be two fun prodjects i will keep postings and pictures when the prodjects get started. as for my own shop i am having a hard time with where to put my power hammer, how far to keep it from the wall and forge. right now i have two forges on the north wall of the shop with a post vise for each and an anvil at a 45 degree in front to keep my triangle work area. the power hammer is on the east wall with one of the forges about 6 to 8 feet away. on the south wall there will be a welding table and other basic shop tools. the door is on the west wall with a window next to it, there is a small 5 foot rollup door in the northwest corner next to the main forge. does this sound like a good start for my personal shop setup? matto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postleg Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 First of all welcome back to Nebraska. I'm located in Lincoln. Sounds like you have a good plan there. The wife and I go to Kearny a couple of times a year to hit the antique stores may have to stop and check out your setup when you get settled in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 It is difficult for me to visualize your setup because of not having scale. I have my trip hammer and forge near a door, so the I can run long pieces through, if necessary. You know, I'm sure, of Stuhr Museum in Grand Island. You could get some good clues perhaps, from their staff on the aspects of running a museum smithy for the public. I demoed at the Stuhr years ago, and I told the gathered group that I atternded North High in Omaha. One ol' the ol' bib-overalled boys said, "We don't consider Omaha part of Nebraska!" Ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 Post leg you should look me up when in Kearney. I can show you my shop and the trails and rails shop. Maybe heat some stuff up and hit it. I lived in linclon for about fifteen years. frank i was one of the head smiths at the golden history centers clear creek history park for a couple of years. my wife's grandpa veril dority did a lot of history talks at stuhr also. to bad you moved, it would of been fun to smith with you. maybe sometime. matto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 O'Callaghan - Oh Good your not dead; you just moved to Kearney! I got cold last winter with no one around to take pity on me and bring me wood. Talk to you soon. -grant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Since you like doing large gates your powerhammer needs to be in the center of a 20' clear zone. Oh since you only do knives your powerhammer can be set up with the base touching the wall. See the issue we have trying to address your question? One thing that can help with space issues is to make a pass through through the wall by the powerhammer---works the easiest if it's a sheetmetal wall and you do linear pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundgedog Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Matto, Every 4th Friday, the blacksmith from the Stuhr museum in GI has a hammer in, if you want to carpool to go to one, I'd be happy to pick you up !! http://pba.abana-chapter.com/ I live thirty miles southwest of you, but I am always in Kearney doing something or another. I was thinking my cousin's son did some work at Trails and Rails, we need to get together and chat !!! Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 i know there is a post of this on here somewhere but i have figured out how to add pictures. so i am just starting a post. this is a photo of part of my shop in kearney where i am setting up my smithy. nothing is bolted down yet and i don't have the sidedraft hood up yet. i am figuring out where i want everything. six to seven feet to the left of the coal forge is a five foot x eight foot roll-up door. the wood box in the right corner is my coal bin. it may move to a new location to give more room for the other forging station and the power hammer. the 25lb LG is on the right wall. there is about a four foot to five foot working triangle between the forge anvil and vise on both sideds of the forge. the forge blower will be controled by a adjustable switch by the tong rack where you can reach it from both sides of the forge allowing two smithes to uses the same forge. I also have a gasses on a roll cart that canbe uses by one or both smiths depending on where you set the cart. the power hammer is about six to seven feet from the coal forge. other wall areas not shown have work bench steel racks a small office paper work and the start of my smithing library. any suggestions would be great, knowing that nothing is "set in stone" yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Get your anvils away from the walls, you'll want the most amount of area around them, goes for the powerhammer too. You can put the forge against the wall but you'll want to make it so you can get a long piece through if need be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Well it's obviously too close together; or too far apart: depending on what type of work you will be doing---which you didn't say. As to positioning WRT walls, take a piece of stock that is the longest you would generally have cause to use and move it from station to station at both the near and far end and see if you hit anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Look at this arrangement and see if it helps. I've been using it for many years and I still have layout room on the floor for big jobs. My doors are at the bottom of the drawing. The working triangle is behind the anvil, not in front of it. Good work space you should have some fun there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gaddis Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Did I overlook the refrigerator? Not too close to the forge please. Cold beer for hot evenings Ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 evenings? :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 fridge is well stocked in the office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian.pierson Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Randy, Do you find having the forge, next to the wall like you do, to limit the length of the projects you can work on? Or am I misreading the diagram? Brian P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 Brian, i think that randy has a door in the outside wall at forge hight so he can open the door and send long pieces through the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted T Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Shop Tools ArraignmentMy small outdoor Forge Station is about 14’ x 14’.I feel it is just right for forging only. I am still adjusting the placement of certain items so they will fit my style of working and the type of things I make. I have a larger shop where I do my finish work in. So far, I feel you have had some good suggestions offered to you. This is just a couple of my thoughts about organizing your shop.Due to design issues at times, a question would sometime come up of where to place the side walk In-between buildings we were designing.We found if they put the sidewalk in last, people would make a path in the soil that would mark the proper place to lay the sidewalk so it would be effectively used to connect the buildings. I use that same principal to organize my shop also. I am constantly “Adjusting and Adapting”. So my suggestion is consider all of the good suggestions sent to you, get busy working and see exactly how it feels to you.One other thing that may or may not come into play for you is to make a trap door through the wall to the outside of your shop, that is in-line with your Band Saw, Chop Saw, Shear, or whatever it is you use for cutting off long lengths of steel with. OOOOPs I just seen where this was mentioned before. I will leave this in due to it being a double good Idea! This way you are able to feed long lengths of steel directly to your cut-off area from the outside and not disturb the inside of your shop. I think you will always continue to make small and sometime large adjustments as your skills and interests develop.Enjoy!Ted Throckmorton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 i would like to be able to put a trap door in the only problem is the walls are 16" thick. as for your sidewalk example i think that is a good point and that is what i have started to do. thank you all for your thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian.pierson Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Matto, Thanks, went back and looked again... Doo should have been a clue there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Brian, It's not dimensioned there but the back of the forge is 12" from the wall. I had plans on putting a door with an opening through the wall, but figured I'd wait and see if I needed it or not before cutting through concrete block. In over 9 years I have never needed it. For longer pieces that won't fit straight through the forge due to it's length I've been able to put it in diagonally with out a problem. Plus I have done some massive jobs using that forge. Big scrolls, railing top rails and the like. No problem and the option is still there for a door IF ever needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian.pierson Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Randy, Thanks for the answer. I am in the process of building out my shop at my brothers. I am planning on putting my forge perpendicular to the wall and doing a hofi style exhaust hood. I plan on putting the forge about 12 inches away from the wall but it is not block. I am going to use cement board to help cut down on the heat transfer. Brian Pierson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Brian, I had a wood frame wall in my previous shop and it was faced with plywood. Never had any burning of the wall from the forge up. Only place was below the forge from falling coals so I took a piece of sheet metal and leaned it up against the wall so that if anything fell it rolled away from the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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