Nate Simon Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I built a wood working shop this past year. its not very big however I also want to start blacksmithing on my own. I was thinking of a seasonal open air shop to start. I don't think it would be a very good idea to do any blacksmithing in my woodwroking shop because of the very obvious fire risk, however if anyone has any experience or has pulled off such a metal-wood combo i would love to hear about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I know several guys who do wood working and metal fab ( usually welding) out of the same space. One of the biggest things is to avoid all the nooks and crannies that hold dust. Most are pretty XXXX about cleaning as well. The one guy has everything in closed cabinets that go floor to ceiling. That way there isn't any place under or over the cabinets to collect dust and let sparks and hot BB's go to slowly smolder out of site. My one friend takes a leaf blower to his shop every time he's done wood working to blow all the dust out of the rafters, corners and so on. Again all his stuff is either stored in a separate closed room or in enclosed cabinets. His work room is pretty empty other than the big equipment and he tarps a lot of stuff to limit where dust can go while doing wood work. He also uses a dust collection system on most of his bigger wood working tools. Big key is to eliminate all dust. If you are really neat and clean, it's not hard to use the space for both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Ideally expand your shop and install a fire wall (two layers of dry wall and fire blocking) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Since your wood shop is already done, and equipment probably in place, you will probably better off using one of the walls to begin an extension for the metalworking/blacksmith part. Make sure the outer wall is fireproof; either metal or masonry. Make the space as big as you can. You will never regret going bigger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I knew of one in Vermont a fellows retirement shop. It was mostly woodworking equipped but did have a small forge, anvil. Our fire department responded one morning to it fully involved. We jumped to the conclusion it started by the forge, after a day of investigation it turned out he had leaned some freshly planed lumber against his gas heater and got interrupted and left it.Most wheelwright shops had both, but a lot had separate sections. I was going to combine my new shop but decided to put the wood equipment in the big maintenance shop instead. Just lowers the odds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawnJockey Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 My current shop is about 1,500 sqft. Most of it is taken up with woodworking equipment and the rest is metal work and blacksmithing. I have to move things around at times but it is no big deal. In the winter I hook up a wood burner and in the summer I disconnect it and move it aside. It isn't a big deal. I just move things around depending on what project I am working on. Sometimes I have to push everything aside to lay out a large (for me) metal project on the slab. I never thought of doing work in several trades was that unusual but I come from a boat working background where you do everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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