Might have a problem here- The wife and I have just moved from a very rural setting where making noise and coalsmoke was never a problem at any hour day or night. The gables of the nearest house were just visible over the trees more than a quarter mile down the road. Now that has all changed.
The new house is smack in the middle of a villiage and I am surrounded by neighbors, very close on all sides. The plus of this is that I now have a shop building, a one car garage with a dirt floor. It measures 12 ft by 18 ft and is certainly roomy enough to set up shop in, (this begs the question- "is any shop ever big enough? but that's a different can of worms altogether).
Obviously I am now in the market for a gasser as sending up a heavy plume of coalsmoke could see the local 911 dispatcher flooded with half a dozen simultaneous calls. So that's the downside, going with gas when I definetly prefer coal and a handcranked blower.
More on the plus side is that I now have a shop contained in its own building and can get busy setting it up as I please to suit me. Our new house and garage is over 100 years old and it is obvious the garage has had a woodstove installed in the past. Putting my forge flue through the same spot that has been framed over from the woodstove will be easy and other garages in the neighborhood have woodstoves in them so I won't be the only one making smoke. As we all know, green coal in a new fire puts up quite an acrid heavy pall before it cleans up and thins, so this is the problem.
I will be adding a gasser which will no doubt be my main source for taking heats but I know what a coal junkie I am and this will take some geting used to, switching to gas. I know I will still long to have a snootful of coal.
Does anyone have any ideas they could share on the subject of getting along with the nieghbors, "blacksmithing incognito", hiding in plain sight, etc. etc.
Thanks! Dan
