[TheForge] Re: Workshop construction

[Mike Spencer]

Frosty quoth:

> I have to cast a vote for concrete too. It can be hard on feet,
> knees and back but the right footwear will take care of this in
> almost all cases.

Yes, good boots.  And I have a piece of rubber-backed outdoor carpet
in front of the work bench/vise.  It slides over 5' to be at the
forge/anvil space.  Those are the only two places I stand a lot.  A
couple of times I've picked it up and carried it over to the welding
table for a long job in cold weather. (But I usually sit on a cheapo
bar stool someone gave me for welding if I possibly can -- saves my
back bending over the table.)

The bit of carpet also retards feet getting cold in an unheated shop
at 0F.

> Another threat to your back on a dirt floor is moving heavy stuff,
> everything moves so much easier on concrete.

!!  I always wanted a concrete floor for just this reason.  Anything
up to a few hundred pounds I can easily move on a dolly with rubber
casters.  Bigger stuff moves easily on 1-1/2" pipe rollers.  Rollers
work okay on sturdy wood floors too, of course, but you tend to dag
and crunch up the wood.  I'm real happy with concrete excepting only
that I wish I'd had a more skilled person do it because it isn't
perfectly flat.  Good but not quiiite good enough.

End grain wood makes a really good forge or foundry floor.  I think
the traditional size was about 3"x3" by several inches long and
pressure treated with creosote.  I suppose anything down to about
1-1/2"x1-1/2" would be okay and, with good drainage, just treating the
down ends with bluestone or hardware store preservative.  Pretty labor
intensive, though.  Reportedly requires a carefully prepared bed of
rammed sand.  You'd have to research the details of construction.
There were *streets* made this way in the town where I grew up that
hadn't been paved over because they were fine after lotsa years.

Slight uneveness that develops might defeat pipe rollers but it
certainly is load- and impact-resistant.

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

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