Made a pallet sized blacksmith forge/shop

The shop is four items on a blue 1" thick steel plate:

Pictures:

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1) Propane forge 2) Anvil on wood block 3) 2" thick blacksmith table (I made it, inquire if you want to buy one) 4) 100 year old Reed 6" vise

The table is made from a 2" thick pipe flange.

It is all to be fastened to this blue plate. The point of this is to have a self contained shop and to have it all portable on a pallet sized steel plate. The plate is pretty heavy to handle everything nicely.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus1576
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Very nice, Iggy. I suppose it's sized to fit on a forklift.

There used to be smiths around here who operated out of pickup trucks. The vise was bolted to the bumper,. everything else had to be unloaded to use it, which gave them all the clearance they needed around large work pieces. Sometimes I have to cart my anvil out to the driveway to have enough room all around it. I clamp the leg vise to the small table I weld on.

There are several hand powered machines that could use a mounting hole pattern on a heavy plate for when you need them, such as this shear:

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-jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Right, it is sized so that I can move it with a pallet jack or a forklift.

Thanks. People at iforgeiron suggested that I rearrange items, I will do it. I will place anvil and vise next to the forge and not opposite.

Again, my plan it to walk around on the outside when I work, not to go inside.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus1576

"Pretty heavy"? Bwahahahahaha!

Well, nobody is going to sneak up and steal -that- sumbish, that's for sure. Looks like something John Henry would make. I like the old leg vise.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Very tidy, very pretty.

Also very heavy. No way to unload it without a forklift. Blacksmithing meets I go to don't usually have a forklift available.

As for position, right-handed smiths will like to pivot 90 deg. right from the forge to the anvil -- minimum travel distance for the workpiece.

Height of the vices: You might want to consult with the buyer before you lock the vises in place. Makes a differrence whether the smith will be doing fiddly small work, filing, heavier hammering at the vise. Same for the anvil height. Two inches off from good ergonomics can lame the smith in a fairly short time, at least lead to very inefficient blows.

Reply to
Mike Spencer

Nice! Is this for your own use? A new hobby or are you branching out your business?

Reply to
rangerssuck

Nice work Iggy. I've been thinking of doing something similar for a small foundry casting setup. Foundry furnace, safety area of fire brick for casting and for molds. Rack for tongs, scraper, and crucicbles, and a rack for a 100lb propane bottle all on one assembly I can roll out of the shop to use and roll back in so weather doesn't ruin it.

I don't know how fast your forge will use propane, but on foundry furnaces often those small bottles cool down so fast that they actually have reduced flow of propane. They even ise up on the outside. You may want to consider a larger bottle, or be ready to swap out bottles if it becomes an issue. Liquid propane evaporating in the top of the bottle as you use it has a very significant refrigeration effect.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I like it, very nice.

Seems like quite a few of us have portable tables, vises... and such that we roll out for safety or to get extra room to work or in my case both :)

If you haven't heard of Icweld on Instagram you should take a look at his stuff:

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Especially his air arc gouging and oxy-acy cutting. If you aren't familiar with Air Carbon-Arc Gouging I think you may want to check into it.

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Reply to
Leon Fisk

If I recall, it is OK with this forge, I used it before. But I do know what you are talking about.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus1802

Good jobIg.

Reply to
carlsboyd

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