[TheForge] Foundations and shop design

[smith at blacksmithing.org]

Greetings all -- 

Ekaterina asked opinions on shop floors and power hammer foundations. 

What I did was to have a donut poured in my shop (a 30'x 50' pole barn) - I 
left a 16' x 16' area unpoured and had a side slab created with the concrete 
that was originally going into the hole (since I was already paying for it). 
I also ran water/gas/electric lines into the 'hole'. Once the crew was gone, 
I dug a separate foundation for the 50 lbs Little Giant (midway on the north 
side of the hole)- a box 6" longer and wider than the base of the hammer and 
about 4' deep with the top 6" above the overall floor. The box was framed 
with presure treated planks, was filled with old fence fabric and available 
rebar and was poured. A post hole was dug for a 6x6" post (midway on the 
east side) and that was concreted into place to act as the support for the 
main post vise.  I ran 4x4 PT posts across the void (about 3' apart), filled 
the area between with sand and planked over the hole with 2x8 PT planks. The 
4x4 were leveled so that the planks were flush with the concrete surface. 
Where needed, I attached short legs to the 4x4's and concerete them into 
holes.  When it was done, I had a floating floor (a lot easier on the kness 
than concrete), electrical hookup to the coal forge in the center, gas 
hookup next to the power hammer (for the gas forge) and a spigot over the 
slack tub.  Some years later I removed the anvil stump and added a concrete 
base with large nuts embedded in it so that I could swap the London pattern 
250 lb-er with the knife maker's anvil.  I also amazed myself - as I dug the 
foundations for the anvil, I hit a piece of channel iron .... something I 
has placed over the electric line when I buried it years ago, knowing I 
would forget the line was there. It's kind of nice knowing I was smart 
enough to anticipate me being stupid. 

Anyway - the floor has worked out well - easy on the body, easy to add new 
items, and relatively little vibration conduction.  i do recommend beefing 
up the rebar in the surrounding pad, especially at the corners to prevent 
cracking. 

Steve Bloom - Ironflower.com & FABA editor