Shop Placement

N

Nine-Mind

Joined
Mar 12, 2012
Messages
1
Hello all,
It's great to be back. I first started my knife making journey in high-school but stopped when I started college. Now I have a fancy piece of paper and no shop. I live in a small apartment without concrete floors and inadequate ventilation (go figure), and was wondering if any of you guys had (or have) similar problems and any clever solutions as to where to place your shop.
A friend and I are building a coal forge and need room for it as well as our general tools and equipment. We both work grounds and are pursuing setting up shop in the companies shop, BUT if that doesn't pan out we'd need an alternative idea. Thanks guys!

-Logan K.
 
Storage Shed?
I bought one a few years back and used that for a while prior to my new shop.
 
See if you can find a copy of the '$50 Knife Shop'. It won't help you with a location but it will tell you what you need at a min.
 
Some options are:

Small shed - build or buy a storage shed. Put the equipment on rolling carts and roll out for use. A sturdy folding table is a real asset. You can build a small covered shelter roof over the front with corrugated fiberglass roofing panels and some salt treated lumber.

Portable shop - Get a covered trailer and have fold-up tables and equipment on stands. Take out what you need and put it away at the end of the day. Bolt high and low 2X4s to both walls with 1X2 spacers to raise them off the walls, Use these tie-down rails to secure the equipment when moving (take a look at the inside of a U-Haul truck). Get a good lock for the doors and a tongue lock. Check out old camper trailers,too. A pop-up 10X10 canopy can be bought from HF really cheap for shade and quick setup:
http://www.harborfreight.com/10-ft-x-10-ft-popup-canopy-68216.html

Rolling shop ( even if you don't roll it anywhere) - Find a used panel truck or shop truck. Build the shop in the back, and use some of the portable shop ideas. You can add a removable awning or tarp for a covered side/back area.

Super shop on wheels - Check around for a used RV/camper, and build the whole shop in it. You will be amazed at how cheap some older ones are. If you are just going to park it at work or on a friends lot, it only needs to run enough to move it to your lot. Gut the entire RV except the sink and build work benches down both sides.
 
I know you were talking coal forge but my entire shop is on wheels due to space constraint and a bad back! Here are a few examples!


This cart has my forge, my grinder, as well as a host of other items that sit on it!
Grindercart001.jpg

The cart allows for me to move around the heavy items. Plus it allows me to get my forge outside when in use thus not having a venting problem with fumes. The grinder when I get out in the light outside helps with my ageing eyes!

My propane tanks do not reside in the garage when not in use, due to a fire hazard. They are stored in a shed and moved around on this!
Forgecarrier003.jpg

This is a container I welded up so I can roll up too it with a dolly, bungie it too the dolly and roll it anywhere. It allows for leaving two small tanks manifolded together to prevent freeze-up and yet it protects the tanks. One hose is all I need to do a hook-up to the forge and it stays with the tanks!

So what Stacy is trying to say, "make it portable"! If you want to use a coal forge and you have the rest of your stuff portable a forge could be done under a lean to type roof allowing for ventilation and meaning that you would not have to move it in and out all the time. If that is not an option a coal forge on a brake drum is small but, useable and easily moved! I saw one here a while back the guy had used and old truck rim as a base and had rollers mounted to the rim so when tilted it made it easy to roll around like a dolly. A pipe was used as a riser and a brake drum as the pan for the coal forge. He had a hook-up on the pipe riser that when he rolled the forge where he wanted it he could hook-up his blower and the whole system was good to go!
Sometimes you have to think outside the box!
 
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BTW, filling out your profile will help. If you are in rural Kentucky the response will be different that if you live in NYC.

What was your old user name?
 
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