New here, so I’m sure this has been discussed before but I’m curious if there have ever been conversations around adding a Smithing area to the metal shop? I’ve been dabbling in smithing recently and would love a place to learn and practice more. So I wonder if there have ever been discussions about adding a small propane forge or two, some anvils, and blacksmithing tools? Would also be good for heat treating needs too.
Obviously some considerations around space allocation, insurance, ventilation, and safety but seems feasible if there’s interest? I don’t think it’d be toooooo expensive but would love to hear thoughts. Thanks!
Our lease on this space is only another year (or maybe two? cant remember) and I think this should be a consideration as we look for a new space though!
Unfortunately, ~3 yrs (Dec 2025, we were trying to negotiate for less!). We’re aiming to have more fire capabilities in the next location so that we can get some forging stuff going. We’ve seen a lot of interest over the years in it!
What about an induction forge? No flame, no exhaust.
It’s mostly good for bar stock of iron/steel, and melting metal for casting, including jewelry casting. AFAIK this starts showing limitations if you even bend a bar and need to reheat, since the loop coil has a limited diameter it needs to fit into again. You can make coils of other shapes, people have done open flat coils, but they’re not as effective as the enclosed coil.
On the other hand, works ideal for knifemaking for sure. And no prob melting precious metals or aluminum for casting as long as you can fit it into the coil.
The machines are surprisingly cheap and there’s a lot of DIY options. But, they do take a lot of power to run. And of course there is always a fire risk from handling red-hot iron. They look really easy to set up and use, though. Easy to DIY the whole thing, actually.
They’re dirt cheap. I do have 3kw 48vdc supply we can try if it’s a diy setup. I do think close to 3KW is a sweet spot. On a 20a@208v supply, minus the supply efficiency and some margin, 3KW dc is about 16A, the most you want to put on a circuit. But there are 3 phase supply configs that would do 9KW or 10KW if add another wire.
There’s a number of youtube videos showing different coils you can make. These are hollow water-cooled tubing, so the attachment method would matter, but I have not seen any major differences in one model vs another.
People do pot their coils in refractory cement, or there’s a magnetic potting material called “alphaform” someone is promoting that indicates it can channel the magnetic flux better.
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