I am currently building a house with an attached garage, upon which I am constructing a new shop in the third bay of the garage. The size will eventually be 10’x24’. I am currently starting out making stock removal knives and I am starting to do a little work with Mokume. In the short term I want to expand my possibilities with forging small batches of Mokume and smelting my own ingots of Shakudo (96%Cu, 4%Au) and Shibuichi (75%Cu,25%Ag). My long-term thoughts are to delve into pattern welding carbon steel and 52100. I would like to eventually put a propane forge in. So my questions are, (since I am indoors).

1. What type of ventilation/exhaust system/hood would you recommend for forging?
2. What type fire suppression/prevention methods/preparations can I put in a forging shop?
3. What can I put underneath the anvil to prevent me from destroying my nice concrete floor?

I’m wiring the shop now and punching holes for a furnace system along with a vacuum system. So any help you can give me I would greatly appreciate it. I figure prepping it now will be easier than later.

Thanks for your time.
Tom

Well, let's see here...........
If it were my shop, I would first make an area where I was going to forge, that did not have concrete. I have worked several times in shops with concrete floors, and unless there is a very good anit-fatigue mat where your working, your a "hurting unit" at the end of the day. Very hot things also tend to get dropped on the floor during forging, and I have seen larger pieces of hot steel cause concrete floor to blow out chunks about the size of quarters. (by the way, my entire blacksmith shop floor is compacted "road mix". The best floor I've ever worked on was were the floor around the forge was made of end cuts off of bridge timbers which were placed in sort of like tiles, and then filled with sand. It created a slightly irregular surface, but at the end of the day there was no sore knees or backs.
On to the questions..........
1. If your shop is tightly enclosed, either a good side draft hood, or a full overhead hood. Either should have a dampener to keep all your heat from being sucked out during cold weather. Keep in mind that gas forges produce very large volumes of carbon monoxide, so in a tightly enclosed area a carbon monoxide detector is not a bad idea.

2. Keep a class C fire extinquisher close by. Remember that you are dealing with compressed gas, so whatever you do, set up your shop where the tank(s) are outside and piped in. Propane is heavier than air, and if you get a leak, it settles to the floor, and you likely won't know about it until it's too late, so check connections often with soapy water.

3. Nothing beats a good hardwood stump, or even bridge timbers built up to make a square stand for the anvil. My #300 trenton sets on a stand made from 6"X6" timbers that are lag bolted together. Metal stands are the pits! If the stump is large enough you may get away without having to bolt it to the floor. If you must bolt it down, three of four chunks of 2" angle iron, lag bolts for the stump, and concrete anchors for the floor is a good route to take. For more protection on the concrete, and old piece of conveyor belt placed between the stump and the floor works great too!

One of these days, if I ever do build a new shop, some of it with have concrete, but the forging area will always be dirt, gravel, or end grain timbers. Let us know how the project progresses

Ed, thanks for your thorough answers, much appreciated.
I gives me a good start to how I want to start laying out the shop. It brings up a few more questions and please forgive my ignorance regarding forging.

When forging on a anvil are there sparks and molten flux that can get spit out in all directions which would fall on the timber floor that could cause a fire? Since the garage is attached I don't want a fire to start from and ember resting on wood or by a 2x4 wall while I'm away.

I mentioned a propane forge, but I am hooking up natural gas for a furnace. Could I use that for a fuel source for forging? What other options are there and what do you use?

Thanks again,
Tom

The tables my forges sit on have casters so I can roll the forges outside to use them. I don't like to forge inside as I enjoy being in the open air. Do all my forging in the morning before sun hits the area.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp I work in a 20 x 25 room in my basement... so I have tried to invest in some safety devices on a tight budget...

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp For ventilation I have a Tjernlund in-line draft inducer from Grainger ( about $60.00 ) that pulls about 68 cfm through 6" pipe that goes outside through triple-insulated walls and up a flue about 25 feet. At present this goes only into my coal forge, but this Spring I plan on putting a line, hood and blast gates over my gas forge, as it generates too much heat for the Summer. The draft inducer is meant to exhaust hot fumes, so the motor is outside the set-up and it has held up under quite a bit of abuse. I can also put a box-fan in the window and cross-ventilate quite well in the warmer weather.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp I also have a Carbon Monoxide detector and it has gone off twice. Both times I had closed up the shop and turned off the ventilation before realizing I wanted to go back and fix that one thing at the forge... Opening a window immediately cleared up the air. I got a simple home-protection fire-alarm style detector $20.00

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp For grinding dust I got a DC3-5 portable dust collector from Penn State Industries ( www.pennstateind.com (http://www.pennstateind.com) ) that pulls 800-900 cfm and has a 5 micron filter bag. It was only $200.00 and has reduced dust in my shop immeasurably. The collector itself in in my garage with a line coming into my shop for noise reduction. I plan on extending this line to much of my woodworking equipment as well.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp I also got an air filter from the same company ( Air Cleaning System 465 $200.00 ) just for general dust control and it goes down to 60-70% removal of .5 micron dust. The smaller particles are the ones you want to remove as they are the ones that go all the way into your lungs. The only dust in my shop now is from before I got the filter/collector and it is slowly disappearing... but there was a sh*tload of it!
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Note: you do need to be careful with dust collector bags and sparks. Empty the bag in between grinding metal and woods. Include a drop of about 3-4 feet in the pipes going to the blower so sparks have a chance to extinguish.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp I did a lot of my homework here concerning dust-collectors: www.americanwoodworker.co...page3.html (http://www.americanwoodworker.com/2001_buyers_guide/dust_collectors/page3.html)

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp So for about $500.00 I put some equipment in my shop that drastically reduced dangerous dust and fumes, although I do wear a niosh respirator etc... when grinding as well.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Hope that helps.

Jonathan, thanks for the great information, yes it does help a lot. Listing the models manufactures, web site and prices are a great time saver, thanks.

Thanks for the info on dust collectors. I hadn't consider grinding metal attached to a dust collection system for fear of catching the bags on fire. I wasn't sure how hot the embers would be by the time they got to the bags. Emtpying them out between material grinds makes good sense. Maybe I can get rid of my quench bucket that looks like a biology experiment ;) .

Thanks for your time.

Take care,
Tom

When I first started forging, my smithy had a gravel and dirt floor. It was ok, but every time it rained it would get messy because I have an open smithy. So, I started putting the ashes from my coal forge on the floor around the forge, anvil and workbench and within a month I had a beautiful, soft smithy floor. The ashes and cinder act like a carpet and are very comfortable to work on. I can forge all day and half the night without any foot fatigue. I just spray it down with the water hose now and then to wash the dusty stuff down into the mix.

Inexpensive, easy and fireproof! The only problem I've noticed with this practice is that now and then I have to rake the area in front of the anvil to keep it at the right height! Also, when you drop something there ain't much use in looking for it. And something else I've noticed is that my pups don't have near as many ticks as usual. They play out in the smithy and get filthy with ashes. I guess the coal ashes are a natural deterrent to ticks and other insects because I don't have a problem with bugs in the smithy. I live in Arkansas, so that's really saying something.

Ed,
I was checking out some of the other forums as mine was quiet and I wonder how you became such an accomplished photographer. It seems with forging and all that you must be a very busy man. I'm impressed by the little that I've read here as I never realized how complicated it is just to set up a shop.