The Importance of Having Good Ventilation - Shop Safety

Nobody wants black lungs.

It's less common in blacksmiths than in coal miners, but it's a very real concern in the blacksmith shop.

If you're using coal as your fuel source, there are a few things you can do to mitigate the dust, smoke, and irritation that comes with coal:

1. Set up outside: Many smiths have their forges in the backyard under a roof without walls. The breeze can flow in and around the forge, pushing the smoke out and away. 
2. Add a hood to your coal forge: Many manufactured coal forges come with vent hoods. You will need to create a draft to get the smoke/heat to draw up the chimney.
3. Add a fan system to the hood to help draw the smoke and push it outside and away from your work area. 

A smith friend of mine, who did most of his work in the early 1980's told me a story once about a setup he had.

He was forging in small cabin shop in the center of the small town we're from.

He hadn't set up proper ventilation and over the course of a few hours made himself sick enough to need a hospital visit. 

Lesson learned. Years later he was comfortable enough to talk about his early mistake so that others wouldn't do the same. Brave guy. 

Gas Forge Ventilation

With gas forges, you're not dealing with visible smoke and soot. 

Propane burns pretty clean, but there are still precautions you should take to avoid inhaling some of its byproducts. 

Keeping yourself safe with propane forges:

1. Always have a cross breeze going. This can be as simple as opening a window and cracking the door if you're in a shop or your garage. 
2. If you have the money, add a ventilation system to suck the off-gases up and out of your forging area. One of my favorite setups was an HVAC system with an exhaust fun. I'd flip the switch before lighting the forge and enjoy much cleaner air and zero headaches. 

Here's a quick video I shot a couple weeks back about the topic. If you enjoy the video, feel free to Subscribe to the DIY Blacksmithing YouTube channel. I upload new videos multiple times a week all about blacksmithing smarter.