August 25, 201213 yr Do you have enough room in your "smithy". Need less, need more, would like to have more? What is the hold up? Money, business or lack there of, or lack of motivation? Let us know where your thoughts are on this one, so we can plan for OUR SMITHY and / or OUR next move.
August 25, 201213 yr I need more space but I am looking for a place to move to and space for a new smithy is one of the primary features I am looking for!
August 25, 201213 yr 1700sf is about right for me and my son Dave. That might seem huge to some but I get into some largeish projects from time to time....
August 25, 201213 yr Well,.... I'm waiting for the excavators estimate on my retirement shop, it will be 30x36....It'll have to do...I'll be posting progress pics. Most likely, at my age, I won't out grow it.
August 25, 201213 yr My shop at 25x 60 sounds like a bigger shop. But with a pattern shop in one end and the blacksmith shop in the other, I am really tight for space. It is particularly bad if I am building a big pattern, or when I am bringing in a bunch of castings and getting them ready to ship them out. Double my current size would be just about right.
August 25, 201213 yr 1000 sq. ft. with some exterior concrete pad workspace. Way too small. But I've alway said that blacksmiths are like hermit crabs, we grow to totally fill whatever shell is available and then start looking for a bigger shell.
August 26, 201213 yr I've got plenty of room and more to expand since i moved to the bush ( country )
August 26, 201213 yr my shop is half in my shop and the other half is out the back door with a lean too type roof to keep the weather/sun out. Beyond that is a large back yard which provides additional space beyond anything I need. I just move into the yard, a second anvil, a work bench.... whatever.
August 26, 201213 yr My shop is 20x20, forging is outside. If I had more space I'd find something to put in it. Nature abhores a vacum after all.
August 26, 201213 yr Well my shop is just over 80 ft X 80 f about 6500 SQ/FT And it is too small. I also have about a half acre of outside fenced storage two 40 ft containers and a 20 footer all buried with stuff I dont have room for anything, I really need less stuff, not more space but still as it is I dont have any room
August 26, 201213 yr If I could get all the non smithing stuff out of there it would be fine, but as the forge doubles as the yard shed, the tractor and other gear has to park somewhere...
August 26, 201213 yr In my experience, an adequate Shop Space is much like Sasquatch, ... everyone's heard about it, but few can claim first hand knowledge. ;) At 42' by 52', my Shop is big enough ( barely ), but it goes through cycles of clutter, followed by periods of ruthless :rolleyes: "clean out". A lean-to type Tractor Shed / Steel Storage would be a very useful addition, ... but I fear my ladder climbing days are long since past, ... and I'm unwilling to pay someone else to do such a simple job. So I'm keeping an "eye out" for some sort of "pre-fab" solution. .
August 26, 201213 yr My shop is, in theory, plenty large enough for what I tinker with. The problem is that everything else gets cluttered in there for "storage". The implication being that it's only being stored and will be removed at some point. That point never seems to materialize, though. A pole barn is in the near future!
August 27, 201213 yr My smithy is around 6+ X 12. Rather small but I do small stuff. My wood shop is 20 X 24. Too small. But it would be workable if I'd organize that (as slab out the tree parts that are destined to be lumber). ron
August 27, 201213 yr I work out of my garage/storgae area and have to drag out everything each time I want some forge time.
August 27, 201213 yr I work out of my garage/storgae area and have to drag out everything each time I want some forge time. Yea, I feel that. My wife has to keep her indoor parking space too. We have plans for an outbuilding that will be my shop/forge/storage area, but everything NEW is on hold for now. Still have a lot of work to finish on the house from foundation repairs. Maybe next year... Phil
August 27, 201213 yr Smoothbore , have you considered one of those metal carports you see every where? You can get them with sides an enclosed end and even a garage door. I'm considering one for my smithy but my wife seems to think it would blow away. I looked at one all closed up and it seems pretty sturdy to me.I think it would be cheaper to build a pole shed the same size though.
August 27, 201213 yr At my age planning for the future does not mean building another shop. I have just consolidated two shops into one, consequently space is tight. I am disposing of duplicate equipment but even after that process is complete the shop will be tight. What I have found is that if I have a place for everything and keep keep everything in it's place the shop remains functional for my work. Since my move I have concentrated on providing storage shelves, hooks, and drawers so that everything really does have a place to live. That is a good plan for even those who have large sohps.
August 27, 201213 yr I have a 1250ft building and a large outside area. I think a 2500 sqft. building would suit all my needs. I am very happy with what I have and it works fine. It keeps me from buying more stuff and thats a good thing. Things could get out of control if I did not have some restraints.
August 27, 201213 yr 1,000 sqft . . . Includes both metal and woodworking. It's big enough for the work as my stuff is small scale, but storage for most materials is in outbuildings. I'm expanding all of the welding/cutting/foundry equipment into a 300 sqft shed roof area so I don't have to reconfigure the existing shop every time I want to do something that fires those golden BBs everywhere.
August 27, 201213 yr I have plenty of room :mellow: ........................... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I have a one-car-garage that is roughly 245 square feet. I roll my forge outside to forge and my anvil and slack bucket sits just inside the door so I have the entire outdoors as a smithy LOL
August 28, 201213 yr I need more space to do all the things I'd like to do. I could do more with the space I have if a number of projects were finished and cleaned up. I have a 1-dump truck garage, maybe 15x30.
August 28, 201213 yr I've got over 700 square feet and am satisfied for now. I've got all the big equipment I want, and plenty of room for small tools still. My main shop is 20x28 feet and I've still got some breathing room. The steel room is 13-feet square and is a separate room from the shop, although it is attached. Very nice having a separate steel room. It too, is big enough for everything I do! I have additional space upstairs for storage for stuff like packing materials, the light table, etc. That's handy too! Walls do not cost much.......roofs do! If you need more storage space, try going up, not out!
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