Sunday 8 March 2015

Starting Hardware mode.


Hardware mode
Today saw the first in a revitalised project. As the winter washes away I find myself in hardware mode again, and itching to make - and break - all manner of things.

There is a space at the back of the garden that I can zone for outdoor projects, and I want to do some ironwork so naturally bought a woodsaw and hatchet.  Between those and some good garden shears I've been able to start the land clearance I'll need before the garden bursts into life with the upcoming spring growth.

It's a dependency satisfying side-quest, a matter of tracing the cause-and-effect back until I get from the ideal set-up to the status quo.  And the status quo is an overgrown area, a vegetable plot and a garden shed.

The Space
We're fortunate enough to have a bit of space at the back of the house, and the rear portion of it looks ideal for a toolshed. The entire width of the garden is about 25 feet, and in the back portion of that stands a garden shed, a vegetable plot and some unused land.  The rear of the property is a brick wall, one side is a 4" high fence with some bushes and the right side is 8" evergreen hedges and some trees.

That gives me an area about 25x18 feet, with a 6" brick wall along the long edge. I intend to replace the dilapidated old shed with a stone tool shed with a solid workbench, fire-pit and small anvil on a solid block.  I'm going to need a solid base on probably that entire area, which means digging it up.

So... naturally if I want to heat & beat the first step was to do some gardening. Raze the bushes so I can dig the earth to lay a concrete base to build a tool shed on. Then I'll be setup for metalworking. I'm thinking of keeping enough space for some seating - a couple of benches, but I might make those myself once I've got some toolworking space.  And to be honest if I'm making a bench, I'll probably make my own nails at the forge.

There are plenty of other hardware projects that'll go alongside this. The question of a smelting fire and crucible have come up.  We had a crucible at the forge I as at before but I was never brave enough to try it.  It was also an antique, and probably against conservation guidelines to use it anyway.  But smelting brass or aluminium isn't so much hassle, and you need to get to about a thousand degrees which is quite achievable in a small fire and I'm game.

So, that's hardware mode. It's a weekend project, and I'll try and get some "before" pictures taken so we can document the transformation.