Outdoor Smithy Planning

[SandhillSmithy]

Hey all,

This will be my first post on the forum. I am getting ready to set up my first smithy and I'd like to get input from the IFI community. A few things to mention: I live in South Florida, it's hot, humid and frequently wet. I live in the city/suburbs. This will be my first smithy. I will be using a propane gas forge. I have some basic blacksmith experience under my belt, but I am still very much a beginner. I've chosen a corner of my parent's backyard as the location for my smithy. Industrial space is too far and too expensive for me right now. I'm mainly interested in forging hardware, fixtures, utensils and eventually get into tools and blades. 

As you can see in these photos, I'm dealing with a roughly 12'x12' gravel footing, shaded by trees. The airspace above the gravel is fairly open sky. As of now, my plan is to find a 12x12 canopy that is either tied off to the trees or self-supported. I plan on placing the anvil in the center, roughly where the garden ball currently stands. I will lay out a circular work area roughly like this Forge>Anvil>Vise and back to forge. I figure that should take up roughly 1/3 of the 12'x'12 work area. Somewhere else in the work area, I will set up a work bench and a tool box.

Right now I've got a few things going around in my head:

• What sort of Anvil Stand will I use? If I can find the lumber, would digging a post into the ground be ideal?
• Am I asking for trouble with such an open air setup? I figure I can cover my equipment and tools, someone suggested covering the anvil with an oiled cloth. 
• What sort of workbench is ideal? Will I build one from wood and finish with marine varnish?
• Not having walls means having to store equipment/tools elsewhere.
• If possible I'd like to preserve the beauty of the space by keeping it open-air,  but not at the expense of leading to the premature destruction of my gear.

Any advice, questions or comments are very welcome. I'm going to need some help to make this a reality. Thanks for the support in advance!

[ThomasPowers]

My Florida experiences lead me to ask about the bugginess of your area...Will you need to work in a screened in space?

I don't see a picture but I would suggest pushing the forge and anvil to one side and leaving the center clear for movement and longer pieces.

For smaller work you have quite enough space. I used to have a knife smithing set up that was around 10'x10' on the outside   with a work bench across the south end with a 4" post vise and a slab of soapstone on top of it where my propane forge sat and a another work bench on the east side with a tong rack and a hammer rack at the end of it.  The west side was for the anvils and a walkway, the North end was a small but heavily built workbench with a 6" postvise on it. (If something needed the 6" vise it was heavy enough stock to hold it's heat travelling to it!)  1 person could work well in  the space left in the middle.

I would not put in a semi permanent anvil stand until you have learned *WHERE* *YOU* like your anvil.

Most of my work benches I have scrounged or built with stuff I got from the scrap yard. excessively heavy works real well IMNSHO for work benches.  My lighter ones have  tops built from 2"x8"s

[jumbojak]

You'll need to know what sort of anvil you're using before too much thought can go into the stand. For a heavy block of steel a tripod stand works well though I've seen some on here use a bucket filled with sand and wooden spacers to keep the anvil upright. A wider base might be in order for a london pattern. Just something to consider. Anvils come in many shapes and sizes.

I work outside exclusively - haven't gotten around to stacking straw for the shop yet - and don't have any problems save one. Rain keeps me from working, as I don't have any sort of awning. Depending on the weather you might find enough rain blows in on bad days to keep you from working. Always use caution when electricity is involved.

Build the heaviest bench you can and then build a shelf underneath so you can stack heavy items there to increase its weight. The best aspect of a bench is that it's a solid working surface. One that moves can be more of a hindrance than an aid in some cases. I'd stay away from any of the ready-made, store bought benches unless you can get one reaaaaaaaly cheap and use any savings to beef it up. 

[Kozzy]

Consider the wind carefully.  I have no clue about the winds in your area so it's up to you to think this one out.  The site Windalert.com has a feature which shows average winds and directions..plus peaks and other data mapped out for your area and by month if needed which can be a real help.  Click on a marker on the map that comes up for your zip code, click forecast in the pop up box, click "all details" on that, look at the bottom of the forecast page for a map of wind history where it displays "wind statistics".

Canopies are amazingly good sails  Take whatever you think it needs to pin it down and double that.  I've had a canopy pull out 3 foot long 5/8" dia rebar stakes in the past so I am a bit paranoid on this.  

You don't want the breeze blowing down the throat of your forge or gusting in such a way that the dragon's breath jumps out to bite at you.

On hot days do you want to be hammering immediately downbreeze of the forge?

just stuff to consider.

As the wizard Mr. Powers said, don't pin stuff like the anvil down until you've had a chance to decide whether the location works best.

[Frosty]

Another thing to consider us security and how likely it is for your gear to grow legs while you're out or sleeping. I agree, you have some miles to go before you can plan where to put things with any reliability. The Kitchen rule is a good one but you'll be amazed how much difference a few degrees of turn can make. Just don't get in a hurry, these things evolve as do your skills, products and interests.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Good point; my first anvil was stolen from my backyard when it was knee deep in naily shingles from a 7 layer tear off!

[SmoothBore]

A lot of material has been published on the subject of "work triangles".

Read up on that subject, and you'll be in a much better position to put together a well thought out work area.

Basically, since you don't work "behind" the forge, it probably needs to go in a corner.

Whereas your anvil needs to be accessible from all sides.

 

.

[olfart]

Before sinking a wooden post into the ground, I'd consider making the wood termite-proof. Otherwise they'll eat your post and be working on a way to have the anvil for dessert.