[TheForge] Small shop questions

[TodEstesRN at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/12/2004 6:53:19 AM Central Daylight Time, 
brhlbsmt at mcttelecom.com writes:
> > A few months ago members of The Forge kindly gave me advice on setting
up a
> > basic shop.  It's taken a while, but we are now at the point of actually
> > building the shop.  Although I had hoped for more....I'm ending up with
a
> > 15' x 20' shop with some additional outside space that will be under
cover.
> > Before we move forward, I was hoping for some more advice.
Bettina, I have a similar sized building for my smithy.  Due to my materials 
(all salvage) I have an eight foot wall on the West and a twelve foot wall on 
the East with a shed roof that has two foot eves.  It is pole barn 
construction with the roof joices setting on top of the top plate held down with toenails 
and hurricane straps. My prevailing winds are from the South and west. I 
built the South wall as two large doors that I can open and position to funnel in 
the wind.  There is a small window on the North and one opposite of my forge 
on the Northeast. Outside the East window is a small "A" frame that I use to 
support really long stuff. To cut down on the light from the window I use white 
shoe polish.  It has been in place 5 years and my only complaint is that 
during tornados and other horizontal rains. I get spray in my Smithy. But the 
Ventilation is worth the trouble.  The area over my anvil is plenty for swinging 
overhead. You can never have enough outlets or lights. I went with oilsaturated 
packed dirt floor. This allowed me to be taxed at a much lower rate. If this 
were the only building that I had available I would have poured a concrete 
floor and large outdoor porches on the East and south.  Good luck and Happy 
building. 

Time enough for sleep in the grave.
Tod Estes.