[TheForge] Need shop space?

[Jerry Frost]

Ben:

A living working smithy that's also a museum is one of 
the conditions on the lease. They didn't make the site 
very navagible but if you read everything you get some 
of the details.

Ries:

I agree and just how many railing jobs would need a 
10,000lb hammer? Okay, so maybe if you were making 
production runs of thousands of feet of each style 
maybe you could use something that big. I think it's 
going to need an industrial outlet, this place is 
designed to turn out big shafts, yokes and such 
forgings. I mean things like ship's anchors and 
hydroelectric turbine components.

I know I couldn't make a go of a place like that and 
doubt many out there could. There has to be a 
substantial gvt. subsidy as I don't think the equipment 
is new enough to compete. Of course there'd be the fun 
of drawing a shoulder on a 3' dia shaft with 30-50 
spectators asking questions like, "Is that a REAL 
fire?"

I'd be asking if I could pull the lever. <grin> Heck, 
I'd just like to watch. Ker-BOOOOM-rumblerumble.

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "Ben Barrett" <stircrazyben at gmail.com>



>I grew up near there,
> Maybe the Cambria Forge could become a working 
> museum, if there even
> is such a thing...
>
> regards,
>
> ben
>
>



> On 6/10/07, ries <ries at riesniemi.com> wrote:

>> A couple of years ago, I visited this shop, Cambria 
>> Forge.
>> It is amazing. And, if you were serious, you could 
>> get in there and
>> work.
>> But, and its a big but, it would require a lot of 
>> money, and a lot of
>> jobs, to make it viable.
>>
>> I run a relatively small business, with up to two 
>> full time
>> employees, and myself.
>> I have a fair amount of machines, although nothing 
>> compared to the
>> hammers in Cambria forge.
>>
>> And I know what my overhead is- utilities, labor, 
>> taxes, consumables,
>> materials, and so on.
>>
>> To keep a shop like that running, I am guessing you 
>> would need at
>> least 5 guys, and to gross somewhere above a half 
>> million a year.
>> Probably better if you doubled that.
>>
>> And that is assuming you got a really good deal on 
>> rent.
>>
>> Imagine the expense when one of those hammers goes 
>> down.
>> Imagine the amount of support equipment you need- 
>> bandsaws, grinders,
>> drills, plasma and oxy fuel, ironworkers and 
>> forklifts, machine shop
>> and  fab equipment.
>>
>> For somebody, it would be great.
>> But without a really go getter of a very successful 
>> blacksmith, I
>> cant see that happening.
>> And there are probably only a dozen guys in the 
>> country who have the
>> skills, the experience, and the business smarts to 
>> make that happen-
>> and they all already have big shops, roots where 
>> they live, and
>> contacts.
>>
>> Johnstown itself is a depressed area, to say the 
>> least- not a lot of
>> $10 million dollar houses being built there that 
>> need a couple
>> hundred grand in ironwork.
>>
>> For that shop to become vital and working again, my 
>> guess is only a
>> school, or a government sponsored program would 
>> work.
>>
>> Its a very cool place, though.
>>
>> ries
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jun 9, 2007, at 11:15 PM, Jerry Frost wrote:
>>
>> http://www.jaha.org/BlacksmithShop/restoration.html
>> -------------------------------
>> If it ain't forged
>> it ain't real.
>> Wrought iron is.
>> The FrostWorks
>>
>> Meadow Lakes, AK.
>>
>> http://www.artmetalradio.com/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> ___________
>>
>>
>>
>> Ries Niemi
>> Industrial Artist
>> http://www.riesniemi.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> ___________
>>
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
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