Hello all! I’m new to the Hive (literally about to pay my first dues this coming Tuesday assuming I’m accepted for membership) but have been at the Hive in the past (I’m also attending the CNC Class this weekend for fun). With all of that said, I have the following question for anyone/everyone:
Is there/Has there ever been/would anyone be interested in - having a metal forging capability in the Hive? Not having forging experience myself (but knowing several who do, one owns a business) I would like to explore forging knives/cutlery for myself. Anyone else with this interest or skill?
I have been doing blacksmithing & metalworking classes at Blue Hell Studio for around a year now. I’ve had some interest here and there in getting forge equipment set up at the Hive (basics like anvil, propane forge, hammers, tongs), but so far hadn’t seen enough interest to justify acquiring the equipment and finding space for it. For any sort of communal usage we’d probably want safety and certification at a similar level as things like our welders.
Having said that: For knives and cutlery, forging often ends up being a smaller part of the work. The greater part of it ends up being in the grinding, polishing, tempering, and all of what’s involved in attaching a handle. Some folks even just buy blanks of the right kind of steel and skip the forging step altogether.
I would love to see this come up, but is our current space even up to snuff with having a forge? As I was pointed to, Our Welding room is not a “hot room” and wouldnt a forge need that level of safety?
There are cycles of interest in metal foundry, forging, plasma cutting and other metal working methods.
Given the space we have the welding room becomes the target space for these activities. The problem then is fire safety and ventilation.
Temporarily moving these activities to the back dock dies with rain, hot humid summers, winter and general security of the equipment.
Hive13 needs a different space for these activities. Currently that’s a space we don’t have.
Short term focus is on developing welding and sheet metal capability in the space we have.
My interest flip-flops between, “a minimal forge setup would be cool!” and “why even bother when Blue Hell Studio and the Cincinnati Blacksmiths Guild are just north in Roselawn?”
Having some sort of relationship with those organizations might be better.