[TheForge] Need shop space?

[toni smith]

and a shame really. if it was here in Australia and i had the money it
would be good to be able to turn it into some sort of working tourist
attraction. if there was the room around it then add in a whole heap of
other traditional arts and crafts.....sort of a pioneer village sort of
thing with the main focus being the smithy. want to eventually do a
similar thing anyway as i can get the land to do it only with organic
farming etc. going on as well

Toni

ries wrote:
>
> On Jun 11, 2007, at 5:52 PM, bmyers647 at comcast.net wrote:
>
> One thig that you didn't consider when you discussed the Cambria forge
> in Johnstown, Pa - bring customers.  Johnstown is a very depressed
> area.  If it weren't for John Murtha bringing home the pork, there
> would be nothing.  There has been a lot of talk about making it a
> museum.  If you could bring in enough customers or sell to remote
> customers, there might be some pork money in it for you, or perhaps
> some deduction on your utilities.  The city is desperate for something.
>
> Barry Myers (former resident)
>
>
> Unless there is big bucks government funding, which so far, there
> isnt, it would take someone with a national, if not international
> reputation and client list.
> there is, as you say, no way that a custom blacksmith shop doing
> really high end stuff is gonna do a million dollars a year, and
> realistically, thats what its gonna take to keep that place running-
> in Johnstown.
> Or in Pittsburgh.
> You would need to be like Paley, doing several projects worth several
> hundred grand, every year.
>
> Like I said before- there are guys in the USA who do this- but they
> all already have shops, houses, kids in school, employees who own
> houses, and so on. Seems unlikely that any of them are going to want
> to pick up everything and move to Johnstown.
>
> And although the hammers are all there, I dont think there is air for
> the utility hammers- originally, they were steam, run from a steam
> plant a half mile or so away. Sometime more recently, I think in the
> 70's, they were converted to compressed air, but I am pretty sure they
> were still supplied from an outside compressor somewhere else. The air
> feed line for that big boy is something like 4" pipe- I would imagine
> you would need a 150 hp or so compressor.
>
> there is lots of cool tooling there, racks and racks of it. And
> amazing, industrial sized heat treating ovens, but some of them are
> outside, under a roof, but still outside, unused for almost 20 years.
> Every single machine like that is gonna take a rebuild. Which means
> time, and big bucks.
>
> Its a wonderful dream. But unless you have a few million to spare, I
> kinda think its gonna stay that way.
>
> Even the big boys in Forging, people like Scot Forge, use hydraulic
> presses more these days- they probably would think all that stuff is
> obsolete.
>
>
>
>
>
> Ries Niemi
> Industrial Artist
> http://www.riesniemi.com/
>
>
>
>
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