Shop Ideas for the winter.

[Paul TIKI]

Ok, The winter here is giving hints that it will be here soon.  As my 'shop' is pretty much a corner of the back yard without any kind of shelter or structure, I'm not going to be able to forge much in the next few months.  I do fully intend to light a fire in the forge every chance I get, but those opportunities will be fewer and farther in between.

I'm looking for ideas for things to work on (indoors) that will help with the shop come springtime.  I have a treadmill motor that I hope to turn in to some sort of belt grinder for one potential project. 

I don't weld (don't know how), but I have an incomplete stick welder, so I may be able to put something together.  The problem there is I don't have any workspace for it, and I would have to unplug the clothes dryer in order to use it.  I'm also concerned for safety issues like ventilation and safe minimum workspace.  If I were to set it up, how far away from things like the clothes dryer, vent, gas water heater, and so on, should I be?

What are some other tools could I make that could be useful, but would not require the use of the forge?  The kinds of handy gadgets that you never knew you needed until you made one, and then wondered how you ever got by without it.

With luck, the winter will be pretty mild and I will get more forge time in, but I want to keep moving forward if it stays too cold.

Thanks, as always, for the excellent advice ya'll give!

[ThomasPowers]

Start a "Project Notebook" in a 3 ring binder Draw projects you want to do once weather gets better on individual pages and then list what stock you will need, any special tooling  under each and then the steps you think are involved and then Step 1: to be filled in when you actually make it.  If possible add a picture of the completed item when done.

ILL all the blacksmithing books you have heard of here and read them and decide which you may want to buy for yourself.

Plan the forge structure for next year!

[John B]

Look into repousse work if you want to be a little physical and hands on, You can use mild steel for your punches, or small sections of tool steel, angle grinder and a small gas torch like a plumber uses will be handy to forge and heat treat them.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I would recommend not doing any arc welding inside the house due to fumes and fire danger (sparks pretty much go everywhere). If possible make an extension cord for the welder to get it outside. Of course not knowing the setup it may not be feasible to do that and long cord's get expensive. If I remember mine a 50 footer for the welders was around $120 just for the cord & plugs.

[Paul TIKI]

Thanks guys.  Gives me a good place to start.

It's good to know the welder would have to go outside.  I know the sparks get everywhere but wasn't sure about fumes.  The extension cord will likely wait until next spring because of the cold.

Haven't been to the local library since covid pretty much shut it down to the public.  They don't have and online catalog, this town is too small.  I'll have to give them a call.

 

[BillyBones]

This comes from first hand experience in my younger and obviously dumber days. Do not weld in  the house. I had a basement work shop that i used mostly for rebuilding transmissions. (them were also the days i could carry a trans up and down the stairs with no help) One winter i figured i would do some welding at my workbench. Those sparks from an arc welder do indeed go EVERYWHERE. The lens in the mask is very very dark and when welding the only thing you can see is the arc. If one of those sparks ignite something you will not see the fire until it is to late. I got lucky that what i was welding only took about 30 seconds to do, but the fire had gotten big enough to need a fire extinguisher. Which leads to another problem of the powder inside the extinguisher, it goes into places you would never dream of and you will be cleaning it up for years to come. Not to mention it is not good on the lungs to stand in that cloud that will eventually make its way through the rest of the house.  

If you can build a small shop, design and collect the materials now. That way in the spring you can start building right off the bat. A board today, a box of screws next week, a little at the time is much easier on the wallet also. 

[Paul TIKI]

BillyBones, I shall learn from your pain, then . No welding in the house, got it!