A lean and mean shop

[Glenn]

What are you doing to make your shop leaner and meaner in this time of rising costs?

Combining as many stops as possible into the same trip, the grocery store, the post office, the hardware store etc. Instead of using the rosebud and ox/ac gases, building a fire in the forge. Wearing the apron in order to save wear and tear (and dirt) on your clothes.

What are you doing to adjust to the rising costs?

[rthibeau]

hmmm......I would have to say....NADA......I've always tried to be economical and when the prices go up, all I can do is pass it on or suck it up........I pass it on as best I can...when it get's to where I can't..then it's time to stop or become a charitable organization..

[solvarr]

Making my own charcoal

Using larger propane tanks since the price per gallon drops and they freeze up less

Using more scrap metal

Forging my custom tongs instead of buying

Focusing more energy on marketable items

Charging students for consumables.

Using my wife's spare glass torch hooked to bulk propane when i am forging small items since It burns less gas and lets me spot heat.

[Johannes]

I try to make post of the tool i use myself,
i plan on building a set of great bellows and turn of my noisy old vacuum cleaner/blower,
I mostly try to use scrap material, i get for free or a scrap weight prices,
try to burn the coal slowly and be patient in heating the iron up, not to burn to much unneeded coal.


regards,
johannes

[jayco]

I've always been a pennypincher anyway, but lately I've been turning off lights and air compressors,etc, when not in use..........electricity costs money too.

Forging as close to shape as possible to avoid unnecessary grinding.
( That's how the old smiths did things before the days of modern,powered grinding tools.)

In a lot of ways, this strange new economy we're experiencing merely reinforces the "do-it-yourself........"use what you have" way of doing things.

This kinda reminds me of the stories I've heard about the 'old days' around here........100 years ago..........
Old timers told me that the steel was of questionable quality,expensive, and hard to get shipped by rail and freight wagon. They told that it might take weeks or months to get a shipment of stock.
Kinda sounds like today, doesn't it?

A few years ago I saw a long brace on an old horse drawn hay rake.The original brace had somehow been broken. Some long forgotten smith had made a new one from three pieces of iron........A piece of round........a piece of square stock,....and a short bit of flat...........all the pieces forge welded.
I noticed because it 'looked funny'..........I wondered why the repair was made that way.........when it would have been much easier to use one piece of stock.
Then it occurred to me..........he used what he had!

[Dave M]

I don't just shut off the power switches but I shut down at the breaker box. The only thing left on all the time in my shop is a fan that stop condensation. I too tie all of my driving together in 1 day if I can like the dump, scrap yard, post office and food store one big loop. The high prices are changing customers budgets in a big way, they don't have to have custom wine racks, candle holders, boot scrapers, ect. or garden ornaments these are luxuries in tight economic times. Not all doom and gloom my welding and sharpening services have taken a jump up. People are trying to fix and maintain instead or throwing out and replacing.:D

[nett]

Use it up, wear it our, make do, or do without.

The only supplies I've purchased lately are abrasives and coal. I amaze myself by discovering how much stuff I've purchased in the past that I'm just now getting around to using. I have no problem, say, boxing on old can of paint when buying new save time. My smithing is purely investigation, exploration, and recreation and is just an extension of my passion for repairing, restoring and collecting hand tools and hardware. I accumulated iron and steel for over thirty years, and now I'm getting around to using it.

[dablacksmith]

ive always been frugal... i use scrap when posable . its amazeing what you can do with the old (non electric) tools ... my shop at the museum dosnt have much as far as power (one 4 plug outlet 20 amps max)so everything ive got there is hand crank... it is going to be interesting to see if i can run the 1/2 hp motor for trip hammer (and if that will be enuf!) .its going to kill me to buy gas this summer when i hit the road (i do shows all summer to get out of the heat of arizona) cant think of any other cost saveings i can do...

[chyancarrek]

I've been fortunate that my whole living/business model has always been based on making efficient use of consumables and time.

I use only reclaimed stock (wood and metal) so my materials overhead has always been next to nothing. My shop consumables are always bought in amounts large enough to qualify for discounts.

I used to be a production supervisor in a large furniture factory so the process of efficiently consolidating operations in the shop was hammered into me years ago.

Living up in the hills I never leave the property unless I can accomplish 3 or more errands in one trip. I don't have an electric range in the house - just a wood burning cookstove that is fueled from scraps out of the wood shop and scrounged branch wood. I heat my house , cook my food and heat most of my water using just the stove. During the warmer months I use my own charcoal to fire up a Summer kitchen. The sun becomes my clothes dryer and my brother is a market farmer so I get all of my produce from him via bartering metal work for food.

It really is amazing how much you can do if you are willing to put in the time and effort. I've had people describe my lifestyle as "voluntary simplicity". I always tell them - "There's nothing simple about it - think of it as participatory" living"

This Summer I'm starting work on a passive solar system so I can cook, bake, heat water etc. with no energy expenditure.

[brucegodlesky]

I built a smaller gasser with a smaller burner. Saves a wholwe lotta gas!!

[jayco]

Does anyone else ever use a piece of sandstone or field stone to shine or smooth something in the shop?

Kind of like a cross between a whet stone and sandpaper.
Handy when you want to shine a tool to 'run the colors'
I've used 'found' stones to smooth the edges of fullers and chisels for years........I hadn't heard anyone else mention it.

I find them in the little creek behind the shop.........and they're free!

[Frosty]

Uh. . . Yeah, I've used stone to "file" grind, polish, etc. metalwork but not as a cost saving strategy. I figure my time is worth enough to use the grinder if available.

Plunging in and out of a bucket of sharp sand is another way to polish up a point while tempering.

I still prefer power tools though.

Frosty

[jayco]

I have one of those old 20 inch grinding wheels with the crank handle.Sharpening an axe, hoe,etc, is painfully slow with it.

I am glad we have power tools in this modern age as well, Frosty!

I just usually have a piece of stone around the shop somewhere.
If I want to take a grinding burr off a punch or chisel, I'll rub the edge of the tool on the stone to make things smooth.
Of course sandpaper will do the same thing........the funny thing is; I usually have to hunt for the sandpaper, and the stone is always where I can find it.......(my son borrows the sandpaper)

James

[Glenn]

Use a broken grinding wheel to remove the scale from a piece of metal so you can watch the colors run. As Jayco says, also good to remove a burr.

[Ten Hammers]

I'm fairly tight all the time in the shop anyway. Sometimes to the point of being foolish I guess but try to learn from my mistakes. A torch and a gas saver is much faster than firing a forge for many small issues BUT many times making extra coke is a smart way to fire for something small. A hacksaw on the forge side is much faster than going around to the other side and using the chopsaw. I don't do much heat treat but do use muriatic for de-scale. A hot file will save you a lot of time sometimes. Of course a good belt grinder is hard to replace along with dedicated side grinders with rocks and flap wheels. Compressor air is ALWAYS turned off at the tank along with all bottles when I leave and not turned on unless I use them.