Your Smithy's Name

[pnut]

I guess I should have been a little clearer because what I meant was usernames. I just find reading a question like "Can I use these cinderblocks to make a forge?", coming from someone with a username like XXX ironworks or Zzz blacksmithing Service strange. I don't find asking questions strange. Quite the opposite. I think people should ask questions just that having a username like that would lead me to believe they were at least somewhat experienced.  To each their own though.

Pnut

[JHCC]

10 hours ago, Frosty said:

Just because you sell some product doesn't mean you have what it takes to maintain a business

As the former co-owner of a cabinetmaking shop, I can agree with this entirely. We had a good product, we had a market, and we had nowhere near the professionalism or the business sense we’d have needed to be successful in the long term. That experience (combined with subsequent experience gained from working in other craft businesses) is part of what led me to my current determination not to become a full-time blacksmith. 

That said, I do occasionally use “King’s Mountain Forge” for my semi-professional work; it’s a loose translation of my last name. 

[bubba682]

Two Dog Forge and Fabrication i call my little shop it took a few years to gear up but the hobby is opening some doors but its something i wouldn't want to depend on . I got into it to learn the old techniques of working metal and making damascus knives and axes i'm were i want to be and i enjoy this hobby and thats all it will ever be for me.When i get to old or sick to enjoy it i'm selling everything but my anvil it'll go to the grandkids if we have some untill then i'm forging,fly fishing and hunting early retirement is good for the soul....

[ThomasPowers]

I've had a lot of kids come to me saying "I don't want to go to college, I wanna be a knifemaker!"  The first thing I say to them is Great!  Now go take all the business and accounting courses you can find at a local Community College!  (Though I know a bunch of people where their Spouse runs the "business" and they are just the primary worker...)   These days you really need to know "business"  to support yourself with one.  I remember the professional sword maker I worked under telling me that some years how he calculated the depreciation on his tools was the difference between profit and loss.   The other thing I tell them here in the USA is to marry a spouse with good health insurance as most craft businesses are one accident away from bankruptcy!

[Dillion Brian Grant]

17 hours ago, Frosty said:

Relax Dillion, nobody here is expecting you to follow a schedule or account for your time. Just because I'd like to see pics doesn't mean I expect you to run out and take some. That MAY change of course, I could get irritated and want you to jump like a frog on a hot plate. Probably not but you just NEVER know.  

Just because you sell some product doesn't mean you have what it takes to maintain a business. It's a start but it's a long road. however, if you can sell enough product to put your shop in the black you're golden. Keep all your receipts in case Uncle Sugar wants a look see at them.  You might want to take some book keeping classes so you can keep business straight. 

Make your blades when you have time. Everybody with a paycheck job understands about having to work in what you really want to do around the J O B. Have you heard the sad truth about, time, money and the real world? "If you have the time, you don't have the money. If you have the money, you don't have the time."

Don't get hung up on trying to get everything just right, it'll just bum you out more when you have to change it. Floor plans rarely work how we expect and things are always changing so my advice is keep it flexible. Sure there are pros who have been at it so long nothing in their shop changes. If you get to that level then mounting things permanently makes sense say burying a log vertically for an anvil stand. 

A roof with no leaks is primo, a smooth flat floor is a beautiful thing, paved with something is for later. I like my concrete floor but that's me. Not you. Yes? Find the smithy corner, wall, where ever, clear it flatten and smooth it and run a plate compacter on it till it's hard as you can get it. This will make it easy to move things around until you find what works for you. A bench can be free standing and still be against a wall and free moving so you can find THE place for a built in. Shelves same same, you'll want to screw them to a wall or something so they don't fall over. That might not be an issue for you, I fairly frequent have earth quakes to think of. 

Lights, you want GOOD lighting. LED strip lights put out a LOT of light for not much money and they last a long time. Better in cold country, they light right up when it's COLD. Electrical, you never have enough outlets, make sure you have a couple few circuits, lights on their own so popping a breaker doesn't leave you fumbling around the shop in the dark. 

What run on sentences? 

Frosty The Lucky.

I should have reworded my statement about redesigning honestly just a full cleaning since I have to keep family clean so I have the building to use lol and really the redesigning is just moving some griders around and such as ive had this original setup long enough to know which tools I'm using more than others only thing imma be mounting is the bench vise I have though I still really wish I could find a decent post vise I could afford honestly the building im in really couldnt be much better tho approximately 3/4 of the building is ussable/used for my smithing and its huge or at least huge enough to fit my needs

Lighting does need improvement but that will happen once my vehicle is back on the road from the transmission shop

Rn just wondering how many hours my 100 lb propane tank has left before shes out lol

[ThomasPowers]

Keep a log on your "hot time" so you can know about how much time you have left.  Griders: girders or grinders?

[Dillion Brian Grant]

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Keep a log on your "hot time" so you can know about how much time you have left.  Griders: girders or grinders?

Definately gonna do that... And sorry thats a typo I meant grinders honestly I dont like the idea of anything except a vise to be mounted cause even if I always plan to have the tool there it would just increase the cleaning aggravation 

[Frosty]

You're young Dillion, aggravation is good for you, it helps prepare you for parenthood.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Don't forget sleep deprivation and a tolerance for biological waste!

[Frosty]

I prefer to forget about my biological waste once I'm done with it. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Unfortunately, and I'm sure you know this, Frosty, it's not YOUR biological waste you have to worry about or deal with as a parent, particularly a new parent.  I have about decided that babies are one of the few, if not the only, example of negative entropy in the universe.  They put out much more than what goes in.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

[M.J.Lampert]

21 hours ago, Frosty said:

I prefer to forget about my biological waste once I'm done with it. 

Frosty The Lucky.

you hear bout the fellow who stole the cops toilet??

 

 

 

 

 

 

theres no suspect  the cops have nothing to go on

M.J.Lampert

not mine but the right time for it

[Bantou]

On 5/19/2021 at 5:05 PM, Frosty said:

You're young Dillion, aggravation is good for you, it helps prepare you for parenthood.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

On 5/19/2021 at 5:20 PM, ThomasPowers said:

Don't forget sleep deprivation and a tolerance for biological waste!

The beauty of it is, after a few years you forget about how miserable it was and decide doing it again sounds like a great idea. 
 

Please don’t misunderstand me, I would not trade my daughter for the world. The first several months are just grueling. Once they start sleeping through the night, you have turned the corner and it gets better from there... until they turn two at least LOL. 

[ThomasPowers]

I admit I had it easy; I have a brother 11 years younger than I am and so was well trained for diaper duty by the time I got married years later. Also my wife was the oldest of 12 kids and had two of her own when we married so when I would freak out she would just tell me "all babies do that, just go clean up...)  The biggest advance I came up with was wearing hearing protectors when comforting a crying baby---they cut out the high pitches that grate your soul raw and pour kerosene on it...Many a night I spent in the rocker with a teething baby and my hearing protectors...

Grandkids are a lot better; I've got 8 now and I think I've changed a diaper twice since the first one!   Grandma or their parents will do that dirty deed!

[Bantou]

It’s funny how conditioned you get to bodily excretions as a parent. For the first couple months, brown diapers I changed were done in the bathroom next to the toilet. Now, I can get it on my hand and not even bat an eye. I don’t think I will ever trust a “chocolate” smear again though. I dodged that bullet once and now perform the “sniff test” out of habit. 
 

I wish I had thought of hearing protection, it would have saved many a literal headache. 

[George N. M.]

Grandparents and grandchildren get on together so well because they share a common enemy.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Jobtiel1]

Reading this thread got me thinking about a name, even though I have nothing to sell yet, but I do plan on starting that this summer. What came up was very simply "Smederij Tieleman" which translates to "Smithy Tieleman" or "Tieleman Forge" with Tieleman being my surname. maybe I'll keep thinking about a name a while longer. However, Tieleman is synonymous with craft work around here, especially carpentry, my family been doing carpentry for generations.

I am however excited to make one of those hanging shop signs, I will be moving in about a month and a half an plan on making a fancy shop sign in the new shop.

[Frosty]

How about a memorable twist to the name? Say, "Tielman Iron Carpentry"? Do folks in your area appreciate things that make them look twice to catch the meaning? We call it "doing a double take." I know people who'd think it was stupid and turn their noses up. Many others appreciate jokes and twists enough to remember them later. 

Sadly I know too many people who think anything THEY don't understand is stupid. I don't try to explain anymore, they never get it. Like I said, sad.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jobtiel1]

Frosty, that would indeed be a nice twist, My father's business was called "Timmermansbedrijf Tieleman" which means carpentry business Tieleman. would be a nice twist to keep that naming alive. He merged with other single person businesses and doesn't use his own business anymore. Maybe something like "Ijzertimmer Tieleman" would be nice, as that could be translated to Iron hammerer Tieleman. 

Thanks for the tip, and it will indeed make people think.

[ThomasPowers]

For sign ideas you may want to look at: Schöne alte Wirtshausschilder     Or perhaps make a nice sign assembled using typical carpentry joints oney done in iron!  Mortise and tenon with wedges, etc.

[Jobtiel1]

Thanks for the tip Thomas, the carpentry joints in iron is a nice idea.

unfortunately the library doesn't have the book available, so I'm going to have to look around. Since it's German, I can imagine supply being a bit higher here.

[ThomasPowers]

I picked it up at a flea market in Germany back in the 1990's.  I just did a search for it on abebooks.com and found a bunch of copies for sale by German used book dealers. You might contact the ones mentioned and see about getting a copy.

As for carpentry joints in iron---look at pictures of the Iron Bridge (Shropshire, over the river Severn) in  England it used mortise and tenon and wedges and dovetails just like it had been a wooden structure.

[Jobtiel1]

Thanks for the jumpstart.

Concerning the bridge, the dove tail joint with rivets (or bolts, can't see it that well) is certainly something I've never seen done in iron yet. For thing like this I do have to take my skill level into account, so that definitely needs multiple tries before I get it where I want it.

~Jobtiel

[ThomasPowers]

As it was the first bridge built of cast iron they didn't know how to fasten things together and so copied how it was done in wood.  Great set of Museums in Ironbridge Gorge, the Blists Hill one is very nice one on the early industrial revolution and the location is where Abraham Darby first commercially smelted iron using coke instead of charcoal which allowed the Industrial Revolution to leap ahead in the use of iron!