How to control the desire to "collect" more and more and more

[Will Brouwers]

This is a question that has been bouncing around in my head for a while. It started when I got some money for my birthday and immediately started to think of how I could spend it. As someone who is new to this craft and doesn't have many tools, my first thought was "what tools can I buy with this?" But then I realized that before I buy more tools, I should get better at using the tools I have, like the anvil, hammer and tongs. 

This also led to a bit of a re-evaluation of my pile of material and what I need to keep, vs. what isn't necessary. As someone who is always, and I mean always on the lookout for things that can be repurposed, reused, resold, etc. sometimes it gets a little out of hand. 

Just wondering your thoughts on it, especially since our craft has the high potential to collect LOTS of tools and material.

[Dogsoldat]

Dunno,  it's always junk until you need it and within a week of tossing something,  it would have been just the thing for whatever project is at hand...  but then I have always had a shortage of cash and the packrat gene runs deep. 

[Glenn]

It is not what something is called, but what it can be used for.  Once you "stop looking" and "start seeing", the door to another world opens up.  It is not a piece of pipe, but a stack of washers that has not been cut apart yet.  

When you can make an item in less time than it takes to go to town and back, consider yourself hooked.  If you need nails, make them. If you need a gate hinge, make it.  If you need a pry bar, make it.  All this is a direct result of having a resource center (scrap pile) to draw from.  Just be careful when a compass starts to point to your resource center (scrap pile) rather than North.

[George N. M.]

There is always a balance between what you can get and what you can use.  A lot depends on what you realistically will be making.  If you are primarily making small things like brooches, firesteels, or small blades you do not NEED a power hammer or a 500 pound anvil.  If you are doing large junk sculptures you will need a good size welder and a large scrap pile.  Another variable is available space for both materials and tools.  If you are forging in a 10'x12' garden shed you cannot use a 100# Little Giant power hammer.  And you have to consider your family and neighbors.  My wife would not be best pleased if I started to accumulate a multiton scrap pile.  And if it could be an eyesore for the neighbors it is un-neighborly to have a large pile of junk not to mention running afoul of local zoning regulations.

For found material there is also the question of how much time it will take to process it to useable material.  Is your time better spent disassembling a large piece of steel such as a car frame or a piece of agricultural equipment to pieces you can realistically use or is it better spent actually forging something.  And something too big may be effectively unusable.  Unless you have some serious cutting tools and space to use them something a D7 dozer blade is nothing but a really big doorstop.  Not to mention the cost of expendable supplies to cut it up to pieces of ausable size.

I have a few tools that I rarely use but when I do need them they are the best for the job and it makes me smile to have the right tool on hand.  If you are upgrading a basic forging setup I would suggest a mid sized swage block (30-50 lbs) with various shaped depressions.  Unless you are doing something very specialized multiple times I doubt that you would need more than a half dozen to 10 each different tongs or hammers.  Various top tools such as cutters are good too.  ( I find I use the asymmetric [flat on one side, beveled on the other} cutters surprisingly often (you will need one beveled left and one beveled right. You can get away with one but you have to switch your stance or handle position around to use it both ways.  It is easier to have 2.)

Investing in some known steel is a good investment.  Picking up a piece of 1095 where you know how it will work and heat treat is less brain damage than using an unknown piece of spring.

The trick is to be aggressively logical and realistic about what you really need versus what you want.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning Will,

The correct answer to your question is, it depends!!

It depends on where you can hide your usable accumulation. If you are cramped for space to start with, your accumulation can only be what will fill a Garbage container.  If you can call it 'INVENTORY', it COULD deserve a dry space inside or near the ceiling. If you are going to use ceiling space, GRAVITY can and will WIN. Store it smartly and safely. If you store it on the floor, make sure you can walk on it!!

I have an Automotive business, Inventory is always changing, from Inventory to "BISH" (RubBISH). Some Bish is golden, lots isn't. Be selective!!

Neil

[Michael]

having just moved from a larger, leaky space to a smaller, dry one, I have some insight into this. What George said about the time to prep scrap for usefulness is very true. I donated some ladder jacks I had, nice bar stock, precut notches for some sort of trammel project, cutting out the rivets and straightening the parts never happened. I'd rather be forging. A decade and a half scrap pile accumulation gave real insight into what got used and what didn't.  Bar stock, round and square, yes, tie rods, not so much. Coil spring, and small triangular and square plates, used all the time. Anything over an inch square and sections of railroad track, got donated to, respectively, smiths with power hammers and newbies needing makeshift anvils.  As I get older, some stuff that 'followed me home' is now stuff I don't want to try and move. I'm kind of thinking now about how much of a PITA it'll be to get the much smaller scrap pile out of the back corner of the yard for some unfortunate future homeowner.

My $.02

[Scott NC]

  One mans trash.....  The future homeowner may find a small treasure.   I say when you run low on money, storage space or interest it's time to slow down, at least.  I filled a rolloff when I moved recently but I'm back at it.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I live rural an don’t really care much bout what people think of my junk piles when they drive by, they can mind their own business for all I care!

as far as tool buying I’m trying to focus on stuff I ain’t found yet and passing on what I don’t need, 

but imma sucker for another truck load!

the last few months I’ve got rid of several anvils, blowers, forges an vises

but just when I start to get things thinned out I stumble on another auction, clean out or trade an spend another day hauling in more I don’t need

Ash normally don’t care much what I drag home as long as I keep it on the shop side of the property an not around the house side,

that being said…

she said no to a 12 foot tall giant concrete chicken statue a few years ago

and more recently four vintage giant concrete gorilla statues I found a couple hrs away…

I thought it be so awesome to have four giant gorilla statues hanging out by the highway where I could paint them an decorate them for holidays!

I normally get away with a lot, but this time She won’t even hear me out on them!
no matter where I put them…

my dreams of concrete grease monkeys are just gorillas in the mist…

[Scott NC]

  Not to long ago I was close to buying a broken railcar wheel with half the axle still attached for a lawn ornament but it was gone when I got there.

  I would like a concrete chicken.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I don’t have a picture of the chicken but here’s the gorillas

[Shainarue]

Man, at the right price that chicken and those gorillas would have been hard for me to pass up! I don't know if I'd have even asked, and then begged forgiveness after they were installed! 

We've got a place local that has the giant metal roosters and other metal sculptures but it's way more money than I want to pay for a lawn ornament that would likely get stolen 

[BillyBones]

I live in town and my wife would have put that chicken right in our front yard for all to see. She loved that shower curtain by the way. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

9 hours ago, Shainarue said:

at the right price

They sent selling them really cheap right now, imma set an wait a week and see if I can’t talk them down,

BillyBones,

I forgot to update on that shower curtain! It took a couple weeks for that thing to get here but when it did it was hilarious when she got home an discovered it! Bahaha! 

I found another one that I thought about surprising Max with sometime, it’s a that raptor seen from the first Jurassic Park movie! 

[Will Brouwers]

Thanks for all the replies!!

George, I really appreciate your comment on upgrading a basic forging setup. Now that I have this money, my mind is running absolutely WILD on all the things I could buy, a drill press, a Holland anvil, since they are 45 minutes away from me, etc. Also, after seeing some video about all the treasure at Quad-State, it makes me think I should just put myself on a spending freeze until then lol.

 

I appreciate all the other comments as well. For someone who has a small basement shop, a multi-ton scrap pile isn’t an option either, a lot of things aren’t an option.

However, now that I am developing my forging skills (still not very good) I have decided to tackle a project I saw Black Bear Forge do on YouTube, a hardy hole swage block, for me made from an F-350 tie rod end. One of my friends held the tie rod in some very ill fitting tongs while I swung away with my 8lb. sledge. It feels good striking, moving so much metal so quickly!

Anyways, I digress. I am always fighting the battle between gathering/collecting free or cheap things, but keeping a clean and uncluttered shop, between buying a lot of small things, or saving up for that really nice big thing.

[George N. M.]

Will, a drill press would be a very good addition.  I'm not sure if I would buy a drill press or a swage block first.  Both do good work.  If you have the space I'd get a floor mounted drill press rather than a bench one because they have a larger capacity.  Make sure that you get one where you can adjust the speed speed to a fairly low rpm to best drill metal.

Another good addition is a gillotine tool.  Make sure you get one that fits into the hardy hole on your anvil.

GNM

[Will Brouwers]

Thanks George, I always appreciate your comments and ideas on here. I thought it was fun that I am planning on making my own swage block out of a tie rod end, and that you recommended one! I have started looking at floor mount drill presses now! The only thing is, do I really need it now? I am planning on moving Spring of 2024, as that is when my schooling ends, so maybe it is worth waiting...

[Frosty]

The only way to control the DESIRE to bring more good stuff home is to flat run out of room. Drill press first! A swage block is a handy tool but you'll use a drill press way more often. . . Floor stand drill press for sure! Ive gone so far as to lower the table and put a paint mixer in mine for stubborn hard to mix paint, turn it on and go do something else while it does it's thing. 

I'd be putting a Quad State piggy bank on the shelf if I thought we'd make it next year. We've had too many expenditures this month to even think about it. <sigh>

Right now I'm just hoping I won't have to chain that snow plow to the truck and take it to Western and spend MORE to get it working. Well, I'd better take a pee and slog back out through 16" of snow to take another pry bar and hammer to it. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Will Brouwers]

Good luck!!

I should also clarify, now that I have gained some idea of what I am doing around the forge, and have friends to hold hot steel while I swing the sledge, I am going to make my own hardy hole swage block from a big tie rod end.

[JHCC]

On 12/7/2022 at 9:24 PM, Will Brouwers said:

all the treasure at Quad-State, it makes me think I should just put myself on a spending freeze until then lol.

That would be wise.

[Gazz]

It is easy to over accumulate and have a shop that is difficult or at least presents challenges to work in, especially when you live in an area that has lots of old stuff around.  I was warned years ago by a teacher to be careful about crapping your shop up but didn't heed his advice.  A drill press is quite handy and I think worth getting now if you have come across a good one.  I have four as I have a hard time passing up good deals when I come across them but do need to sell two of them.  While over accumulating may be bad, throwing stuff away can be worse!  I can't tell you how many times I've finally ditched something as I had had it for years and never used it and then a few weeks after it's gone, I finally need it!  I'm sure I have some kind of diagnosable mental issue as I do throw stuff in the trash pile only to find myself digging it back out a few days later.  A few years ago, I was invited to show a sculpture in a local show but didn't have anything to submit but still said okay.  A few days before the deadline I was able to root through the resource pile and slap something together.  Some of the pieces I used I had been holding on to for over 40 years!  The piece is not typical of my work but was fun to do and well received.  I'm trying to find a picture of it but am not having any luck as my picture "album" is quite confusing as I save everything ;-)

[Scott NC]

5 hours ago, Gazz said:

 I'm trying to find a picture of it but am not having any luck as my picture "album" is quite confusing as I save everything ;-)

  A lot of it all just boils down to organization if you can manage it....   

  You can fit many tons in a basement.  How many depends on the size of it.

[Gazz]

No kidding organization is required!  I think I'm organized when I save them to a file but then they are not where I thought I put them  I sometimes think the pc puts them where it thinks they should go.

[Glenn]

Forget bringing it home for a while and instead go to the resource center (scrap pile) and dig out the materials necessary to complete that project you have been putting off for a while.  Resource center (scrap pile) gets smaller, one item gets scratched off your list, one project gets completed, and you have a new partial inventory of what is available to work with in the resource center (scrap pile).

[yt12]

I just cleared out the truck------please send location for me to pick up my apes------I NEED at least a pair !!!!!

[Frosty]

Gazz: Your PC does put files where some IT living in his/er parent's basement thinks they should go. Every time I delete a file the stupid OS saves it in at least 3 other places, just in case I didn't really want to delete it. 

Frosty The Lucky.