Blacksmithing is profitable or not. Forge business plan

More and more people are doing business and fewer and fewer niches remain free. As a rule, growing like mushrooms after rain, these young businesses are on the Internet and are associated with the resale of goods or the provision of services. But there is one area in which there are not so many competitors yet, and almost every boy, young man or man would like to do it. This is blacksmithing! We will learn how to open a forge and make a business out of it.

Blacksmiths have always been respected and wealthy people. After the discovery of iron, most household tools for the house and arable land were made from this metal. The life of an ancient and medieval man literally depended on the tools he had. Weapons and armor were also created by blacksmiths. Moreover, the better the swords and armor were, the higher their owner had a chance of survival and victory, but the more such “uniforms” cost. It is clear that the aristocracy and just rich people did not skimp on the acquisition of high-quality armor and weapons. At all times, artistic forging was also highly valued. The kings of medieval Europe even had entire "brigades" of blacksmiths who lived at the palace and were engaged in the creation of magnificent patterns from rough metal.

What do you need to open a forge. Initial Costs

Creating your own forge is quite expensive, but, compared to other lines of business, it doesn’t take much money.

Experts say that to open a full-fledged professional forge, you need about 1.5-2 million rubles, sometimes up to 3. Let's see what this money is made up of. At the same time, we will highlight the approach beloved by many - do everything yourself, invest at a minimum of finance, buy some used equipment, or even find it at a technical dump. It should be noted that although the second approach has the right to exist, it is much worse for making money by blacksmithing.

Investments - rent

If you are interested in a question, how to open a forge, then you need to start by considering investments. The main cost item is rent. The requirements for the premises are quite high. We need a large area, at least 70 square meters. m. to install all the equipment, including the bugle. It is also nice to have an additional 20-30 sq. m. for a warehouse of finished, but not yet sold products. The premises must comply with fire safety standards. It is desirable that the room had a ceiling above 3 meters, ventilation. running water and a good electric line. Ventilation may need to be done additionally, it will cost from 50 to 250 thousand rubles. The combustion products of coal and gas are quite harmful to the human body, therefore, in order to protect yourself and the workers of the forge, it is better not to skimp on ventilation.

The best option is to rent part of the premises in the workshop. Fortunately, since the times of the USSR, there are a lot of engine-building, machine-tool factories left. Rent can cost from 500 thousand rubles. up to 1 million rubles in year.

Now consider the "folk" way. Many craftsmen forge in garages, private or village houses, sometimes even just on the street. If you rent a room, then for the minimum possible work, an area of ​​\u200b\u200b10 sq. m.

Attachments - tools

The most expensive of the instruments is the bugle. It is not for nothing that it is called the heart of the forge, because without heating the metal to a certain temperature, only a small number of operations can be done with it.

The hearth costs about 100 thousand rubles, and can operate both on solid fuels: charcoal and coal, and on gas. It is best to buy a combination.

You can do it yourself, then it will cost about 15 thousand rubles, but this requires “golden hands”. In addition, such a "handicraft" tool will still be worse than the factory one. It is recommended to purchase a voltage regulator for a homemade forge, as this will allow you to save fuel consumption. It should be remembered that the simpler the horn, the more difficult it is to forge such expensive items as knives and swords with it. Another costly device is an electric hammer. Its price reaches 200 thousand rubles. Of course, at first you can do without it, but most likely, studying how to open a forge you have already learned that you will not be able to do part of the production, and you will lose. A good option is to buy a used electric hammer, then it will cost you about 70 thousand rubles. The next largest part of the forge is the anvil. It is recommended that she be weighing 100 kg or more. You can buy an anvil used for 10-15 thousand rubles. Sometimes it's even better, because the steel in the old Soviet anvils is excellent, and the new Chinese anvils will be covered with dents very soon.

You can save a lot on an anvil by making it out of a rail. Costs from 500 rubles, and the steel is very good. If you are very lucky, you can find a piece of rails for free. Just note that there is no such anvil in any serious forge, so the decision should be considered as temporary. Vices cost about 17 thousand rubles, the cheaper and smaller they are, the less opportunities they have - this is logical. A drilling machine will cost you 15 thousand rubles, a grinder 6-7 thousand rubles.

But the hammer and tongs, the tools with which the blacksmith profession is directly associated, are not so expensive. A hammer can be purchased for 2-3 thousand, a set of pincers from 5 and above. If you already know how to forge a little, then you can try to make the pliers yourself. You can also search for these tools at the technical dump.

Current costs compared to the initial are small. For the forge you need: steel (square 12x12 or 14x14) - from 25 thousand rubles. per ton- from 6 to 12 thousand rubles. per ton, paint for coating finished products 60 thousand rubles. per ton, electricity. How to open a forge, and how much money it will take to understand.

A blacksmith is usually paid 20% of the goods he makes. Ancillary workers are paid a small salary. At first, it is better for auxiliary workers to be on their own in order to delve into all the intricacies of blacksmithing. Also, fixed costs may include the maintenance of vehicles (if any) and advertising costs. As a rule, the blacksmith business differs from other areas. The main advertising of products takes place at festivals: musical, ethnic, folk crafts. You can exhibit examples of work in construction markets, shopping centers. Word of mouth is very important in attracting a client. Some good forges only thanks to him and receive orders. But advertising in Yandex.Direct or in social networks is almost never used at the moment. It may be worth experimenting in the field and high technologies to attract new customers.

What is in demand

Conditionally, forgedcan be divided into simple and difficult to manufacture. Of the simple ones, there is always a demand for household products: lattices for windows, for fences, gates and wickets. Cemetery fences and gates have always been in great demand. With the development of cottage settlements, fireplace sets are becoming more and more popular: poker, scoop, tongs.

From artistic forging, candlesticks, clocks, and lanterns are in trend. Wrought iron rose, although very common, continues to be popular. Artistically executed braziers are highly valued, although such work is seasonal. Also, the same lattices, gates, fences, but artistically designed, are in great demand. You should clearly prioritize. The simpler the product, the faster it can be made, and the lower the cost of the work of the master in the price of the product, the cost of the material can reach up to 80%. If the product is complex, creative, author's and unique, then the cost of the material is only 30%, and the rest is income. But for the manufacture of such things, expensive equipment is often needed, as we wrote about in the previous section.

Let's move on to the most interesting. If information on how to open a forge can be found out without any problems, then the information about the forge is rather closed, it is not found in open sources. Perhaps the reason for this is the niche that has not yet been fully occupied and relatively high incomes.

Let's try to calculate the approximate profit of the forge. Let's look at the theory first.

For some of the simplest products (forged fences, spikes, tight curls), the price is not the lowest - from 3,000 to 5,000 rubles. per sq. m.. At the same time, the cost of material, paint, electricity, depreciation of tools will be: 550 rubles. - 600 rubles Plus the wages of the helpers. We make a profit from one square. m. 2200 - 4200 rubles. Producing 4 square meters of forged products per day, we get 8800 - 16800 rubles. For 24 working days 96 m. And 211200 - 403200 rubles. Pretty good, agree?

However, at the initial stage it is more convenient to calculate income not by meters, but by finished products. For example, the net profit from a good and beautiful window grille can be 9,000 rubles. Let's assume that the given lattice is made 4 hours. Then for an 8-hour working day we make 2 gratings for 18 thousand rubles. Minus 20% to the master = 14.4 thousand rubles. per day, 345.6 thousand rubles. within 24 business days. Of course, there will still be unexpected expenses, marketing costs, taxes and pension contributions. In addition, it is not always possible to organize a queue of orders.

Now let's turn to practice. If we take the average cost of creating a good forge from 1.5 to 2 million rubles. and the average payback time is 1.5 years, then we get from 100 to 133 thousand rubles per month. Pretty little. As you can see, practice strongly diverges from theory in a smaller direction. We would venture to suggest that income is still higher, but competent managers invest part of it in development. It is this approach that will allow you not only to understand, how to open a forge, but also how to constantly develop, to please customers with new interesting products, and yourself with high profits.

Video about a blacksmith and his forge

Blacksmithing is one of the oldest human occupations. In the modern era of automation of any production, it is increasingly rare to find forges where metal products are made by hand using traditional methods and tools. However, this fact does not mean that there is no demand for such products. Rather, the opposite is true - the cost of handmade metal items is often much higher than their factory counterparts. Therefore, the business associated with opening your own forge in the provincial region has every chance of becoming quite profitable. Here is a typical forge business plan with calculations, the purpose of which is to guide aspiring entrepreneurs in the main aspects of organizing such an undertaking.

If we talk about the initial investment that a businessman will have to make when opening this business, then they will amount to about 1 million rubles. It is understood that most of this amount will be bank loan funds.

Concept summary

Choosing the organizational and legal form for the forge, you should stop at the IP. As for the form of taxation, in this case, the example of the classical simplified tax system with a tax rate of 15% of the difference between the income and expenses of the enterprise for a certain period is the best fit. You don’t have to hire a professional accountant, as anyone with basic reading and numeracy skills can handle filling out tax returns.

During the registration procedure for the forge, you should select the correct OKVED codes, namely the following:

• 25.99 "Manufacture of other finished metal products, not included in other groups."
• 25.99.29 "Production of other products from base metals not included in other groups."
• 25.99.3 "Manufacture of finished metal products for household purposes by individual order of the population."

The range of services that a forge can provide to its customers is extremely diverse and largely depends on the professional skills of the forge workers. Below is a list of the most common blacksmith services:

• Production of household metal "consumables" - nails, staples.
• Artistic forging of decorative items.
• Cold forging of metal fences, gates and window bars.
• Repair of metal tools.
• Manufacture of exclusive metal products for individual orders.

A good forge is distinguished not by the length of the list of services provided, but by the quality and speed of work. For most customers, it is important to get the highest quality product in the shortest possible time.

How much to invest in opening

Below are the initial costs associated with opening a blacksmith shop in a small Russian town:

The table clearly shows that the lion's share of the initial capital will go to the purchase of equipment for the forge. And this is quite natural, since modern blacksmiths use not only hand hammers and tongs, but also modern high-tech devices that facilitate and speed up the work process. The remaining funds will be more or less evenly distributed among other items of expenditure.

Marketing plan

When compiling a marketing plan for a blacksmith shop, an entrepreneur should pay increased attention to aspects of promoting their business on the Internet. The following is a list of the main components of a blacksmith shop marketing plan:

• Submission of advertising (text and graphic) announcements in readable print media in the region.
• Making publics in several popular social networks and an active set of subscribers in them. By the way, through such groups, it will also be possible to successfully sell the products of the forge.
• Professional development of a website filled with useful information about the forge's products and prices.

If you conduct a competent marketing policy and use all available channels to attract customers, then the monthly revenue of the blacksmith shop will be about 500 thousand rubles a month and, accordingly, up to 6 million rubles a year. Most of the business's turnover will come from the manufacture and sale of household items, but the execution of large exclusive orders will also periodically "dilute" the routine work of blacksmiths.

Production plan

An entrepreneur should rent a production facility for his blacksmith shop, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich should be 80 square meters. meters or more. Approximately 20 "squares" should be allocated for a warehouse of materials and finished products, and equipment for metal processing and the production of finished products should be placed on the rest of the area.

Since the forge houses fire hazardous objects, it will always be under the special attention of the local fire department. So that representatives of this service do not have "excessive" questions and claims, a businessman should take all necessary measures to ensure the fire safety of his forge. In particular, install high-quality fire alarms and place in a conspicuous place an evacuation plan for workers in the event of a fire.

Equipment and consumables for equipping the forge shop need to be purchased as follows (approximate cost is indicated at the beginning of 2017):

Staff and work schedule

The work schedule of the blacksmith shop implies the presence of only one day off. The most rational version of it looks like this:

• Monday - Friday from 08:00 to 20:00.
• Saturday from 09:00 to 16:00.
• Sunday is a day off.
• For one working day a month, the blacksmith shop should be closed for preventive maintenance.

The list of workers in the blacksmith shop is shown in the table below:

Calculations of income and expenses

The list, which includes the main current expenses of the forge shop, is given in the following table:

The profitability of a blacksmith shop opened in a small Russian city is calculated in this table:

From the above calculations, it can be seen that the net annual profit of the blacksmith shop will be almost 2 million rubles. In a month, this enterprise will bring a businessman more than 150 thousand rubles of net profit. The forge will pay off in a little more than six months, and the profitability of this business will be 32% - an excellent indicator for a business of this kind.

Possible risks

The risk factors associated with opening a forge in a small town are quite varied. And some of them can seriously affect the development of the case or even lead to its closure. Below is a list of such factors:

• The risk of hiring low-skilled workers who will not be able to handle the production of complex products, which can lead to the loss of "profitable" customers.
• A safety violation that could result in serious injury to forge workers.
• Increasing the cost of utilities.
• Problems with the supply of high-quality metal.
• An unexpected drop in demand for forge products due to a drop in the standard of living of potential customers.

Own production of forging products is the type of business that requires vigilant control in literally all aspects. If an entrepreneur always keeps his finger on the pulse and strives to bring the necessary novelty to the work of his blacksmith shop, then customers will quickly appreciate it, and profits will grow permanently.

Magazine Reconomica offers you a rare but interesting profession of a blacksmith-gunsmith. Andrey, a knife maker, will tell about his work. Blacksmithing is not yet his full-time job, but he started from scratch, turned his hobby into a source of income and quickly made a good income. You will learn how to turn your blacksmithing hobby into a small business, how to sell finished products and how much you can earn from it, while combining a hobby with a full-time job. According to the author, this is a very good extra income, especially if you live in a region with a low average salary.

The economic situation in the country is such that almost all people are forced to look for opportunities to earn extra money. Retirees work to help their children and grandchildren, motorists taxi or deliver pizza, students hand out flyers or put up ads. It is unlikely that all these activities bring people positive emotions. As well as the main work, which most of us can hardly call a favorite. And how can you call a favorite process in which you are just a small cog, and if necessary, you can be replaced by another cog just like yourself.

That's just a hobby thing. This is something that everyone treats with trepidation and does with pleasure. Doing what you love and making a profit from it is the dream of millions of people, but now it turns out to be realized by a few. It worked out for me, although a couple of years ago I had no idea what I'm doing now.

How I mastered blacksmithing, or how it all began

And it all started with the usual conversation in a sincere gathering with his brother, who is obsessed with all sorts of knives, brass knuckles and pistols. He began to tell me about the videos that he saw on the Internet, about making beautiful designer knives with his own hands from improvised materials.

Imbued with his enthusiastic exclamations, I also decided to see what kind of masters there are. It turned out to be true that making a cool author's knife with a minimum set of tools is not so difficult, and I decided to try it. I was also lucky with the fact that I work as a thermist in a machine-building industry, so I understand steel grades well, and there were no problems with materials for a knife - the presence of a professional thermals at hand in such a case is a huge plus.

How to make a knife with your own hands at home

I watched a bunch of videos on the Internet on this topic, I liked one of them, which I took as a basis as a guide. I used what was at hand to make my first blade. It can be said that he worked at home with improvised means.

The material for my first knife was an ordinary old Soviet file. Steel for a knife is not the most suitable, but it is affordable and easily processed.

I set up my workshop in the garage. My tools for work were a file, sandpaper and a clamp. For the manufacture of descents, I made a special device out of plywood and set to work. Grinding a large layer of metal by hand turned out to be a very difficult task. His hands were constantly tired, he sharpened for a minute, and rested for five. But, oddly enough, I had no desire to quit the whole thing.

Having completed the work with a file, I began to grind the workpiece sandpaper . A few hours of work - and now my blade is almost ready! It remains only to take to work and harden.

Here I must say that due to inexperience, I made a big mistake with the dimensions, the blade turned out to be very thick and massive, but I still decided to complete the work to the end, because my main task was not to make a good knife, but to understand the principle and subtleties of the process.

Next, I needed to make a handle for my “monster”. I went to a birch grove to collect dry branches and birch bark. Back in the garage, I started making the handle. Working with wood is much easier and more pleasant than with metal, so there were no problems here. The handle is comfortable and beautiful. And I decided not to stop there.

How to learn how to make really good knives

I approached the manufacture of the next knife more seriously. I picked up a workpiece from a more suitable steel and correctly calculated all the dimensions. The second knife came out much more attractive than the first. My brother, seeing the result of my work, praised me and asked me to give this knife to him. Without hesitation, I complied with the request, because it was with his suggestion that I began to do this.

My handmade knife

Then things got more fun. Having mastered some of the intricacies of the process, I improved with each new knife, and some acquaintances, having seen the results of my work, were already ready to shell out money for me to make a knife to order. But my activity has not yet gone beyond the scope of a hobby. After all, even though I spent almost all my free time in the garage, the productivity was extremely low - only 1-2 knives per month. You won't make money on this. And then I decided to take a serious step, since the manufacturing process itself gave me pleasure.

Blade production automation

To take my small production to a serious level, I needed to purchase a belt sander. The difficulty was that the simplest grindercosts about 15-20 thousand rubles. I had money, so I, enlisting the help of virtual colleagues in the shop, the same artisanal craftsmen like me, began to choose a machine tool that cost me 17 thousand rubles, including delivery.

After I installed grinder in my garage, I realized that the production of knives by hand and on the machine is like heaven and earth.If earlier on the manufacture of one blade with a file and sandpaper it took me several days, now in one day of work I could easily check out 5-10 blades, while saving a lot of strength.

In addition, the blades made on the machine turned out to be much more accurate and of high quality. Yes, and there were no problems with the handles, because on grinder wood can also be sanded.

This is what my workshop looks like today

In a word, the matter fell apart. In the first month of work with grinder I made 6 full knives. Having presented them to my friends, I immediately received several orders from them from 1.5 to 2.5 thousand rubles. The next month, I earned 10 thousand rubles in this way. I solved the issue of metalworking with the help of a grinding machine, but then another problem arose before me. I had to carry all the blanks to work for heat treatment or some kind of forging operations. To solve this problem, I was puzzled by the manufacture of a forge.

How to make a blacksmith's forge with your own hands

Even a schoolboy can make the simplest forge forge. I did not complicate my life and went exactly this way. Having collected clay, I blinded a small gutter right next to the garage. The basis of any forge is blowing . I decided to use an old vacuum cleaner with a reverse function for this. I ran a metal tube with holes along the bottom of the clay gutter, connected the vacuum cleaner hose to it and that's it - the forge is ready. Fill up the coals and kindle. And although I still wore blades to work to heat, because the quality of the blade directly depends on the quality of hardening and tempering, then simpler operations, in particular forging and annealing. I made it right in the garage.

Where can a blacksmith take orders?

After I fulfilled all the wishes of my friends, there was a problem with new orders. This is where social media came to my rescue. I created a group where I posted photos of my work, as well as some tips for making, and quickly gained a small audience, since such things very well attract the attention of the stronger sex.

Examples of my work

Now, under each photo of my work, there are several requests for sale at once. I do not overprice my knives, knowing full well that I am far from the most skilled craftsman in their manufacture. The average price of one knife is 2 thousand rubles, it turns out to manufacture and sell usually about ten pieces per month. The process of their production has already been perfected to automatism, only now I put my author's stamp on each knife.

Payback for a knife making business

The profitability has been good. Thus, their costs grinder and I recaptured the materials in two months of work. Moreover, now I can afford not to wander around the shop in search of normal steel, but to order it from suppliers. As well as other necessary materials: leather for the scabbard, special oil for impregnating the handles, ribbons for grinder and much more. And the most important thing is that the very process of making knives brings me pleasure and no matter how much I earn on it.

Although during the holidays, when there is a lot of free time, my monthly income exceeds my basic salary and amounts to about 30-35 thousand rubles, but when you have to combine your hobby with work, the income is about half as much.

Youtube is the best client flow source for private master

Now my plans are to create a channel on youtube , where I want to upload videos about making knives and share my experience with novice craftsmen. In order for the videos to be of high quality, you need to purchase a good camera and a tripod. All this pleasure is not cheap, but it is worth it. After all, the channel youtube - this is a large number of potential customers, plus another opportunity for additional earnings on the affiliate program.

How to turn your hobby into a profitable business

I talked about my experience of how you can convert your own hobby into a real serious income. After all, things made by hand to order have always had a special value. As an example, we can take consumer goods, which are made by prisoners in places not so remote. Zonovskie backgammon, rosary, cards, pens and much more are very expensive, not only because it is all incredibly beautiful, but also because it is exclusive handmade.The master puts his soul into it, so such things are highly valued.

Product worth 2000 rubles

My experience with knives by no means encourages you to grab a file and run to the garage. This is just an example of the fact that with the right approach and perseverance, you can easily make your hobby bring not only positive emotions, but also income. And you can do anything.

For those who like to work with wood, making chess and backgammon would be a good option, but for girls, various options for needlework are suitable: embroidery, knitting, beading . For each. a seemingly useless, but beautiful trinket, there is a demand, you just need to be able to present it correctly. And if you really like what you do, then nothing and no one can stop you from repeating my experience.