I have a coal forge on wheels that I set up a few feet away from the opening of my garage. I'd like an awning that I could set up to block rain. I have access to galvanized roofing or corrugated pvc. Of course I don't want any melting or fumes going on. My forge is 33" inches tall and the awning will be about 7 feet. Bad idea? Heres a drawing

Go with the galvy it isn't going to get hot enough to emit zinc oxide smoke unless you light the garage on fire and then I doubt you'll be concerned with it.

If you go with plastic and it's getting too hot stick a light weight preferably shiny something to the roofing with a little air gap as a heat shield. Even aluminum foil and duct tape will do the job.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Frosty. I thought this was a no go. I here about how nice forging during the rain is, but I just grump rainy days away. Not now.

At demos I forge under a fold up awning, propane or coal and have never had an issue. It IS starting to fade though I suppose we'll have to replace it eventually. Coal especially doesn't spend a lot of waste heat in the exhaust gasses if you have the fire built properly. A gas forge on the other hand can  roast a goose at 10 paces.

Frosty The Lucky.

Jack-O-Lantern I too wanted a sort of awning but my garage is on a corner right on the street and I didn't want it to be visible from the street. There is a 6 foot block wall so I built a sloped roof of steel and galvanized panels with 4 legs of 1.5" tubing that slide inside 2" tubing that is bolted to the garage on one side and the wall on the other. Then I raise it with an underhoist jack stand to work and lower it down below the wall when finished. Mine is not really for rain though, out here we hide from the sun as much as possible. It does keep the rain off the anvils and vise though.

Ah the famous U-Forge.    Dive! Dive! Dive!

(What is this "rain" you keep mentioning?...)

Where's the smoke going?  By the original drawing, it'd collect against the eaves of the house before it can exit the ends of the awning (assuming low or no wind)---and possibly even enter the attic spaces through the rafter bay vents depending on the set-up.  Once in a while, probably no big deal but regular forging could cause some problems.

The solution might be as simple as a good cross fan to direct it out the sides before it can tend to collect against the house and possibly do some smoke damage.

If you are going to do this with more than a temporary set-up, I'd re-think the roof line of the awning so that any rising smoke and heat from the forge had an exit point that didn't  allow it to reach or collect at the house wall: don't let the roof trap it and the roof angle direct it.

Oh, and galv roofing would be no problem.  If it ever got hot enough to be a problem you'd be in a lot bigger trouble than fumes.

Don't underestimate how much wind pressure and uplift from wind speed an awning can be subject to.  Even a small 8 x 10 awning in a good breeze could see over 2000 lbs of uplift pressure.  

11 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

 

(What is this "rain" you keep mentioning?...)

Thomas, 

We do get a bit of rain here, almost 12 inches last year. I know that doesn't sound like a lot but you should have been here the day it fell!