Hi all,

I have a night demo coming up soon and have been experimenting with my under canopy lighting system. This event is semi sodium lit for the onlookers but under canopy lights must function for me to actively forge.My regular light source is shaded daylight which makes it even harder.. A florescent light hung up high in the canopy was terrible, all went flat, and the anvils faces shone too bright. Incandescent light cans down lit is a bit better but having trouble getting directional shadow on the pieces I'm forging..Two anvils and a vise table need to be functional. My set up is three sides of a square facing front of forge. Any suggestions ?

Thanks

Ed

Greetings Ed,

The boys from our Michigan Blacksmiths forging into the night at Hartwick Pines black iron days.. They used Colman lanterns with great success . Have fun

Forge on and make beautiful things 

Jim

we use halogen lights @ night facing up into the canopy they reflect down enough light to work with &

you're not looking @ them that way -Yep done the lantern thing to LOL A blacksmith will do anything to keep

forging !!!  Yep that includes FLASHLIGHTS   done it LOL

I second the idea of facing lights upwards into a canopy to be diffused & reflected down. If it were me I'd try and get my hands on some battery powered 5W LEDs, preferably "warm white" rather than "cool blue". LEDs have the benefit of running much cooler so you can handle them easier if you discover the positioning needs a tweak. With enough height and width above your work area they may be gentle enough to be angled downwards. You also try difuseing them with an opaque screen in front of them, grease proof paper would be the first thing I'd try, but I'd never suggest anything to someone I didn't know was fire proof.

Photographers often hang a white Bedsheet in front of a light, ... to diffuse and soften glare.

I'd try hanging one horizontally, under your existing fluorescent light.

 

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Shoed more than one horse with a head lamp, lol. Second the lighting the canopy, tho I have a thing for fire... 

Hey, some great suggestions. I like the sheet filter, the up lighting, lanterns, headlamp and will try all out. Forgot I have a couple of light tree rigs too. The other thing that is very important is ease of set up/ break down. Thanks for the help and keep it coming.

Ed

Photo shows 2" flourecent hung in peak of canopy,

Pointing the lamps up into the canopy (indirect lighting) works wonders nine times out of ten.  If you have camping lanterns that broadcast the light, you can make shades for them out of cardboard and tinfoil to direct the light up into the canopy.  

 

Another option, if you have powerful lanterns, is to make some shepherd's crook style hangers for them.  The trick is to make the hangers really long so you can fasten them to the legs of the canopy.... on the outside of the canopy.... so the lanterns are actually high up in the air, above the cloth of the canopy.  Not only does it look neat to passersby (something they've never seen done before), but the indirect light shines through the canopy a little bit and gives you a smoother illumination.

By getting the lights up high and out of the average eye-line, it's a lot easier for you to see because you're eyes don't always have to change dilation.  An added benefit is that it gets the bugs up high, too, and they aren't so much of a bother.

Bugs ! Yes there would be bugs. Here is photo of set up with a high florescent for general lighting, and a few incandescent cans for directional light on both anvils and vise table.. Welded successfully under this system this week, so I must be getting there. Ten more days and it"s showtime. Keep the suggestions coming.

Thanks,

E

I second LEDs for their toughness. They are also cool to the touch, and don't use that much power if that is an issue...

I am using the small white Christmas light strings in a room of my house. Depending on how many, and how you bundle them, they can be a good general light source. Plus they look good for the customers. I have one string running around the room, and a big wad of them in the middle as a hillbilly chandelier , hahaha!

Thanks everyone for your input. Thought I'd follow up with a post event report for you. Last Friday night I did my demo event and learned a few things about lighting I want to pass on. Most important lesson- TIME, give an equal time allowance to light set up as you do to equipment set up ! Second lesson- TIME, the event I worked had a completely different ambient light quality as my home space where I rehearsed event lighting. This required adjustment of lighting at event that cost TIME.
 Would I do a night event again, no, unless the money talks loud enough. Attached is event lighting pic. Ed