Setting up Shop

[BrennantheNavigator]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of setting up my smithy. I'd love to hear any comments/ideas/suggestions. One thing I'm finding annoying is the crusher stone floors. While initially thinking this would be great for a forge, it makes moving stuff around, leveling it, and having it stable a pain. Things also don't slide so much as dig a trench. Any advice on dealing with this that does not involve pouring a slab? I'm thinking maybe some sort of fill and sealer?

 

 

[lary]

The rock you have looks pretty course/big to me so I'm not sure how this would work. Perhaps try a small spot in a corner out of the way. Tamp down the rocks, sprinkle some cement and spray some water. This works with asphalt grindings. But that is a much smaller aggregate. 

Thats some nice looking equipment.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Like lary said a finer aggregate will help. In our area we used crushed limestone and it packs pretty well so wheeled equipment like  our propane forge on an old BBQ cart and the A/O welding tanks on a hand truck can be moved easily without digging in. For really heavy equipment we put down sheets of plywood to spread out the load, then put the sheets away when the job is done.

You can see the size of the crushed limestone on the outside pad we put in to use the propane forge outside the shop, that same stone is inside. Also used it in the shop addition when I rolled those heavy barrels while standing upright into it.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.~ Semper Paratus

[George N. M.]

If you can find it you might try fly ash which is kind of a poor man's concrete.  If you have a coal fired power plants anywhere nearby it is the by product of coal burning.  I'd try a test section, maybe 3'x3', put enough fly ash on it to fill up all the gaps between the rock pieces, wet it down to get all of the fly ash wet, and then let it dry.  If it is strong enough it will prevent the individual bits of rock from moving against eash other.  Cement would work also but be more expensive.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[George N. M.]

PS  It's a little hard to tell from the photos but it looks to me like your anvils are, IMO, too far from your forge.  You want your work triangle of forge, anvil and vise to be  just a step or two apart so that you don't waste any time or energy moving between them.  If there is too much distance from the forge the metal is cooling before you ever hit it and you are expending more energy walking between the work stations.

Other tools like your bench and a power or treadle hammer can be a bit further away with out much of an issue but keep the primary work triangle fairly tight.  I'd say 5-6' on each leg would work well.

Others may chime in. 

[BrennantheNavigator]

Sounds like some finer aggregate and/or fly ash will be the way to go. I'm in East KY (profile recently updated) so shouldn't be too hard to find either.

The wide angle lens definitely makes things look a little farther apart, maybe 8 feet from the forge but I'll probably end up tightening things up once I get a little farther along; there's still a ton to do, but I can putz around on my little propane forge set up wherever I need it in the mean time.

Still on the list:

source and build a chimney out of used double wall pipe, get the hammer bolted down and wire the RPC up, assemble the press and belt grinder, mount a few vises, get the big anvil stump properly strapped, build a stand for the 200 lbs swage block, install better over head lighting... it's a slow process but headway is being made. 

[lary]

I mentioned cement, but concreate is a lot cheaper and has smaller aggregate mixed in. Looks like you have some fun times ahead of you with that shop.

[BillyBones]

Welcome aboard. 

East Kentucky, may i ask anywhere near Johnson county? That is where i grew up.

Also St. Brendan the Navigator is my patron. 

We had some gravel laid at work around the building we store stock in. The company that did it used something in the mix that set up solid. IIRC it was ground up concrete. It may have all been. But it is solid and doesnt move.

It also seems to me that standing on that gravel for a long time would not feel so great as well. 

Good luck finding used double wall that size. At least around here it is hard to find new pipe. You may also want to check your local building codes. Here in Ohio where i am at you can run single wall through the roof or wall in a metal building. 

[BrennantheNavigator]

Fun times, indeed Lary.

Thanks for the welcome BillyBones; I've been working on the water for the last ten years so the name seemed fitting. Probably fall a bit short of being the Patron Saint of much though, lol. I'm in Carter County, so not too far away. 

You're right, the gravel definitely leaves some things to be desired, but I'll get it refined. The forge has an 8" chimney hole; I know most on here say that's too small (or at least at the lowest size one would want but I would think it was sized and used appropriately when built. I'll probably end up closing it up a bit and possibly converting to a side draft which should help the efficacy of an 8" chimney. It'll also be about 25' high and a straight shot up and out which should help too. 

Marketplace has 8" double walled pipe fairly often if you don't mind doing a little driving to get to it, but you're right I should do a little more reading up on local code.

[George N. M.]

Sometimes local fire/building codes have unobtainable requirements such as distances form stove pipes to any flammable material.  Often it is impossible to center a stove pipe between the roof trusses or joists and meet the distance requirements.  Sometimes the fire/building inspector will offer alternatives.  I have always thought that "armoring" the adjacent wood with concrete backer board would work.  Also, as a general rule forge chimneys do not get as hot as wood stove chimneys.

If you are in a rural area you may not have applicable codes or they may be relaxed for out of town areas. Or, you may have a building code but not a fire code.

Check with your local land use or building code department or the fire department.

Oh, and one of your first purchases should be a 5 or 10 pound dry chemical fire extinguisher to be mounted near the forge.  And a carbon monoxide detector.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I have dry chemical fire extinguishers mounted at each exit door also, sometimes an extinguisher mounted near a heat producing piece of equipment is unattainable in the case of a large flare up. In a rural area where the response time of emergency services is slower one cannot have too many fire extinguishers.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.~ Semper Paratus

 

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Brennan, glad to have you. 

The aggregate on your floor is a lousy gradation, it's all coarse. I'd have to get a live look at it to be specific but whatever you do you'll need to mix it EVENLY to depth. You want particle sizes that decrease in such a way they fill the voids in the next larger size, etc. Ideally a good hard packing fill will only have a few % fines.

Just adding cement, or sand, or whatever won't be nearly as effective as mixing in a mixture of smaller material. One % silt or clay makes a good binder if your ground isn't prone to turning to mud. Adding Portland cement works IF there is sand and fines available. 

Heck, you might get away with mixing about 1pt. Pea gravel and 1pt sand and about 1/4pt portland cement. You'll want to remove everything so you can mix and compact it. Do NOT over-wet it! Mud is a B A D thing to make when compacting soils!

Frosty The Lucky.

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning Brennan,

Simple solution, Use 2 sheets of plywood. Put one down and work the piece you are moving, onto it. When you get to the other end, join up to the second piece of plywood. You can go straight, go sideways, make a corner, so what!! You can use rollers or wheels, pipe or solid round, You can move anything!! anywhere!!

Neil

[Rojo Pedro]

If you can swing the expense, I would go pavers. I like the idea of being able to move or remove them if needed and used bricks would look cool.

nice shop!