Outdoors and Loft

On the north porch is a small and a large ring roller, a trough for screening and wetting coal, a round stock shear, an Edwards floor shear, a guillotine type tool set up for center punching, another cone anvil, an antique lever blower, post drill, small farrier's forge, and a chop saw.

I built a rack to hold 22 5-gallon buckets which hold small pieces of special stock; tool steels, railroad spikes, carbon steel balls, non-ferrous metal scrap for casting, etc.

A 20’ rack holds pipe, round tubing, large square tubing, angle, wide flat bar, beam, and more. Again a lot is organized inside 3” and 4” PVC tubes.

The loft above the tumbler room has a bank of back-to-back drawers under the 4’ x 8’ layout table for full scale drawings. There are five four-drawer file cabinets for all my client records and design references. I have an old computer set up on a desk that will run an old version of a CAD program - still adequate for my needs. On the walls hang the examples of all my laser-cut patterns.

A numbered ceiling grid is used to hang small parts that are notoriously hard to find otherwise.

I have a trailer dedicated to things I use in old-time demos. There is a coal forge with a great Sutton firepot mounted on wagon wheels. I put in the 120 pound Peter Wright anvil as needed and also the various hammers and tongs I’ll need. Some coal and steel stock stays in the trailer with some small anvil and hand tools, a quench can, trestle type work table that breaks down and two trestle type display tables that break down and a post vise. There is a hand operated hydraulic crane and winch mounted for loading the heavy things.

I have another enclosed cargo trailer which holds the inventory which I take to the two Art/Craft shows usually attended each year.

That’s the whole shebang. Visitors are welcome.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

The Tumbler Room

The center of the room is occupied by a 16” x 60” tumbler on a timer switch and filled with about 100 pounds of steel balls and small scrap drops serving as the polishing aggregate. This will clean, deburr and polish steel in about 15 minutes. The hood with tarp is to help collect and contain dust.

A garage door opens to a chain hoist that slides along an “I” beam 13’ above. Usually there is a 30 gallon scrap barrel hanging from it ready to go to the recycle dump.

On the west wall is the paint and patina supply area and a 30” diameter 6’ tall hardware carrousel. A 5” bandsaw is mounted on a stand so I can cut small pieces while working at tabletop height.

On the south wall is a steel storage rack where I store nonferrous metals and steel drops. I reconstitute steel scrap into approximately 6’ lengths by tack welding. These short pieces have been through the tumbler and joined and organized in the PVC tubes by dimension so I have easy access when I need just a short piece of material. A 14” chop saw is on a moveable stand.

On the north wall is a workbench set up as a tool making station. I use this mostly for making tooling to use under the pedal hammer. Along the row there is a 6” bench grinder, a 1” belt sander, a bench grinder with one 3M deburring wheel and one hard felt wheel with chromium oxide buffing compound for polishing, and finally a bench grinder modified to run a partially used up deburring wheel with no guard around it and a table saw type of setup using a partially used up blade from a 14” chop saw. Underneath is a storage shelf and small refrigerator.

Next I’ll describe the loft and outdoor areas.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

The Layout Room

The layout room extends across the south half of the studio. At the west end is a 4’x8’ wheeled steel table with a post vise and several angle grinders and corded drills.

Underneath the table I store all the 10’ new bar stock from 3/16” to 2” diameter. Threee inch PVC tubes help organize the stock for easy removal and counting.

Along the west wall is a Lincoln TIG welder with it’s argon tank and a 6” bench grinder dedicated to tungsten sharpening. There is also a Lincoln MIG welder with it’s argon/CO2 tank.

On the south wall is a a small rolling work table, a four drawer filing cabinet with folders of current work.

Next is my pedal hammer and it’s tooling and work light.

Next is a drafting table with layout and organizing supplies, a drill press on floor stand, and a crude setup for taking photographs of work in progress

Next is a Miller MIG welding cart with argon/CO2 tank and accessories.

Next is the oxyacetylene cart with coiled long hose which will reach most everywhere in the shop and also outdoors. It is hooked to a gas saver which can also be operated by a foot treadle. The torch tips have quick connects. Industrial gas bottles are chained in the corner.

Along the east wall is a 4’ x 10’, 6000 pound acorn platen table, a Trenton/Fisher 7” dpuble screw post vise with chain drive. There is a rack of angle grinders with about six different types of cutoff and abrasive wheels. The one with knotted wire cup brush is hooked to a router speed control so it can be run at lower (safer) speeds. There are three Makita die grinders with different mounted stones. A dremel tool is available for detail work.

Underneath the platen table is a storage area for 10’ and 12’ angle, square tube and channel.

Just outside the door is a straight shear, throatless shear, machinist vise, pipe vise, and small Hossfeld-type bender which can be mounted when needed.

In the NE corner is a Marathon 3” x 42” belt sander with 100 grit abrasive zirconia belt and work light.

On the north wall is an Enco 7” Band saw, 16 drawer and cabinet storage space, Thermal Dynamic plasma cutter, Evolution 14” circular cold saw, post vise with all my chasing stakes and hammers, 6” wide-opening asymmetric vise mounted on a concrete filled keg, and a 120 lb Peter Wright anvil on a small stump.

Next are two oak 4-self cabinets with modeling and casting supplies and other useful stuff and a pegboard display area so clients can see and handle a variety of smaller examples of work.

Last in line is a larger drill press and a 6” belt sander on a pedestal and the work table holding all the drill bits, hole saws, etc.

Next I’ll show the Tumbler Room.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Forge Room

Continuing a welcoming introduction I’ll present an overview of my workspace starting with the forge room.

The building is approximately 40’x40’ and located about 100 feet from my home - real handy! Located on the north edge of town just a few hundred feet from the Neosho River and just a bit higher than it’s flood plain. To the east, south and west is residential property.

The studio has three first floor rooms and a porch. There is a loft area upstairs. Each space is organized into several dedicated “work stations.”

The forge room is the northwest quarter of the space. When I can’t have the whole studio open due to summer heat or winter cold I can close the doors to the forge
area and leave the heat or AC working in the rest of the studio.

In the NW corner of the forge room is a stationary coal forge with a 3’x3’ apron around the firepot. An electric Champion blower is attached to one side (the motor is
outdoors on the porch so I don’t have to hear that noise) and a Champion hand crank blower on the other side. I can flip a switch and run the big blower and close a blast gate on the hand crank side or slide open the blast gate and turn a hand wheel valve and shut off the electric blower side. I feel this gives me the best of both worlds -
the hands-off advantage of electricity or the hands-onfine control of the hand crank.

Beside the coal forge is my four-burner, loose brick gas forge hooked to a 100 pound propane tank outdoors on the porch by a quick connect coupler. It is on wheels and I can choose between using one, two or four burners. Above it is a large hood and exhaust fan. A two-burner forge and a three-burner, both portable with 20 pound tanks are on the north porch along with the coal supply.

In the NE corner is a 50 lb late model Little Giant power hammer. On the east wall is a work bench. I hang the power hammer dies on a pegboard above it. A carbon monoxide monitor is plugged in there.

To the left of the power hammer is a stationary 40 gallon quench tub, a cone anvil, a large swage block on a low stand both of which get moved front and center only when I need them.

To the right of the workbench is a small swage block on a tall stand. On the wall above this is a large paper pad, charcoal & chalk holders and slate chalk board.
This is where I sketch conceptual drawings as I work.

In the SE corner is a fire extinguisher small rolling work table and the flypress. On the wall is my “sketches in iron” display where I store small test pieces - a library
of “visual solutions.”

On the south wall is a shop built Hossfeld-type bender, a 6” pedestal grinder, a Smithing-Magician, and a tall industrial fan.

In the SW corner is my inline treadle hammer and alphanumeric stamps and touchmarks and other associated tools.

On the west wall next to the coal forge is a 4’ work table made from 15” channel mounted on a scraped lathe base.

In the center of the room is a 5” post vise on a large stump, a 4” post vise on a 14” stump, a 120 lb Peter Wright anvil mounted on a concrete-filled beer keg and a 250 lb
Trenton anvil mounted on a large stump.

The next installment is the Layout Room.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Welcome to Persimmon Forge

2009 will be my tenth year of work at Persimmon Forge. My blacksmithing hobby was initiated several years earlier and when I started getting requests for commission ironwork I committed to building a dedicated workspace.

I consider my work as artisan blacksmithing and my workspace is my metal art studio. There may be an important distinction between and art studio and a shop as the latter may be appropriately considered for light industrial zoning restriction.

Over the past couple of years the organization of the studio and the methods of my work have become mostly settled issues and a comfortable routine has been established. Now I feel I can look back and see a lot of mistakes and blind alleys that wasted time and energy. Establishing a successful business was a lot harder than I had imagined and in the event that it may benefit others I am making an addition to my web site which will publish some of my experience.

The section is titled “FAB - For Artisan Blacksmiths.” I will post short articles, as time permits, beginning with a tour of my workspace layout and how individual workstations are organized. A businesslike approach from the beginning will be my method of presentation as few can afford just an expensive hobby.

After the establishing a business series will come articles on using the major tools; hammer and anvil, coal and gas forges, oxyacetylene torch, power hammers, tumbler, flypress, plasma cutter, benders, dies, etc.

After those I will post a series of short shop tips and later on a series on the design and layout process.

This information is offered simply as a report of my experience not as recommendations. The information may be useful to beginners and those with intermediate skills that may be trying to start an art blacksmithing business. There are many other artisans with more years of experience and more formal training who may be able to recommend a better way.

I make no claim to originality. Some years ago I heard Francis Whitaker say, “If you think you have thought up something new in blacksmithing, you probably haven’t. There is nothing new under the sun.”

The one recommendation I will make is, whatever you’re doing, think safety first.

Wear Safety Glasses! Wear Hearing Protection!

http://www.persimmonforge.com/