george m.

One thing that you might consider is using coke instead of coal.  There are a lot fewer emissions.  I suspect that you may not be under under the EPA requirements because a single forge puts out pounds per year instead of tons per day like power plants.  Also, actually check the language of your local regs.  A planner or land use specialist may be shooting from the hip and not actually reading the regs.  For example, I have seen local air quality regs which list stoves, furnaces, and fireplaces but not forges.  Also, I have seen others which control wood burning devices but not coal or coke. (On the other hand, if they use the words "solid fuel" the regs would apply to you.)

Your also might check with your local health department.  Here in Colorado it is the health departments which enforce the state air quality regs, not the cities or counties.

In some states the local governments don't have any air quality regulation authority, only the state and the feds have authority to set standards and enforce them.

I'd check with the state air quality division and see what they have to say.

Emissively,

George M.

About the only use I have ever found for clinkers is traction material when it is icey.  It works much better than kitty litter or sand.  It's unaffected by moisture and is sharper and has bigger fragments than sand.  Really fine crushed rock works well but clinker is available to us and cheap.  60 or 70 years ago practically everyone had clinkers because nearly everyone had coal furnaces.  Now, we're about the only ones with access to it or even know what it is.

However, if you throw it on the sidewalk you'll have to sweep it up again in the spring.  I keep a can of it in my vehicles during the winter months along with the rest of my "blizzard kit".

Gritily,

George M.

Dear Rowan,

I suggest that you take a hard look at the lease and make sure there is language which addresses the following:

1.  Cancellation.  You don't want to be stuck for rent or any responsibility if you are sick or injured or if it all doesn't work out financially.

2.  Insurance:  Make sure everyone knows who is responsible for insuring what.  Likely, the owner's insurance won't cover the loss of your personal property if there is, say, a fire.  Also, make sure there is liability insurance and who is going to pay for it.  If a member of the public is injured in your shop it is too late to start thinking about who could be liable.  Be sure that there is a "no go" area immediately around the forge and anvil or any power tools.  Remember that a child's eyes may be at exactly the same height as scale and sparks flying off the anvil.  I'm sure others have better disaster stories about this than I do.  Do NOT over estimate the common sense of the public.  If you tell them about black heat the first thing they will do is pick up something that is hot but not glowing and burn themselves.  Some people have NO survival instinct or situational awareness.

Make sure that their property insurance covers things like active blacksmith's shops.  Here in the states insurers can get the collywobbles for something unusual and which involves fires and hot metal.  I have seen several historic areas which do not have their blacksmith's shop operational because of insurance issues. 

3.  Maintenance:  Again, the lease should spell out who is responsible for what and how fast the landlord must respond to a maintenance request.  If the roof starts leaking right over the anvil you will want it addressed right away.

4.  If part of the deal is for you to make things for the heritage area make sure that is in a different agreement from the lease.

5.  Make sure that the lease spells out who is responsible for utilities (electricity, heat, water, etc.) (is "mains" the UK term?).

Finally, I very strongly suggest that it is worth your time and money to consult with a solicitor regarding ANY legal commitment.  They will be able to advise you about the above issues and other things under UK law.  I'm only licensed in a couple of western US states.  If something goes bad or there is a disagreement it is money well spent.  Think of it as a kind of insurance.  Don't think that you can't afford it until you know how much it will cost.  It may be less than you think and you don't have to go with the first person you talk with.  Shop around for professional services as much as you would for anything else.

Legally,

George M.

PS  The above is applicable to legal situations and leases in the US too.

G

PPS  Don't forget that many smiths have discovered, myself included, that you cannot sell and forge at the same time.  I can keep a patter going while forging but I cannot do a sale's pitch or handle money and still do enough pounding of hot metal to justify having the forge fired up.  You may want to try a trial period of a couple of weeks or a month before committing to anything long term.  6 months or a year into it you will really wish that you had known certain things at the beginning that you know after you have been doing it for awhile.  If you have a wife or girlfriend to handle the sales and/or the patter of expalining what you are doing and why it makes life a lot easier.  It is REALLY tough for one person to try to do everything.

G.

Dear Larry,

I thought the 2d part of the fish quote was, "teach a man to fish and he will blow the kid's lunch money on carbon fiber rods and buzz baits." ;-)

Fishily,

George M.

I found an olive drab canvas military tool bag at a local surplus store.  It is about 20" long with canvas handles in the center and holds the hammers and smaller tongs and vicegrips just fine.  It also has interior pockets for punches an other small items (like rivets).  I suspect that it isn't actually surplus from some military but was manufactured in a military style in some country on the west side of the Pacific Ocean.

Try a decent sized surplus store before Harbor Freight or the big boxes.

Portably,

George M. 

While I was in law school I rented a storage unit which had electricity available.  I did drag my forge outside the door.  I think that you would have fewer problems with the weather in Florida than I did in Laramie, Wyoming.

Mine was kind of a non-traditional storage unit which had originally been constructed as rental garages.  Make sure that you have an understanding (in writing, if possible) with the owner.

Also, you might look for rental garages.  My first shop was a garage on a residential property where a mobile home had been moved off.  That worked very well too.

Consider how far from your apartment the site is.  It's harder to get there and get motivated to get there if it is more than a few minutes from home.

Finally, be aware of security issues.  If security is sketchy try not to leave anything of much value and portability there.

Good luck.

Non-residentially,

George M.

Dear Last R.,

That is the basic nature and one of the values of these threads.  They can start out at A and end up at Q or Z.  Sometimes the Q or Z or the J and M which were passed on the way is more interesting and of more value to the participants than A ever was.  I think that there has been a good discussion of "trade secrets" and how they are or should be used today with an interesting detour through strengths and failings of "the younger generation."

Meanderingly,

George M.

I figure that I have an obligation to the craft to pass on what I know.  If I keep "secrets" it is more of an exercise in power and dominance than anything else.  Nice for my ego but not much else.

How many times do we tell our kids to "learn from my mistakes?" (They seldom do but that's the nature of the young.) Whether it is in relationships, careers, finances, etc. we don't want to see younger people make the same mistakes we did and suffer the pain or problems our mistakes caused.  I don't see much difference with a craft.

And I don't think that deference and respect is all that necessary except common courtesy.  Very few of us are "masters or mistresses" in the sense that, say, Sam Yellin was.  We should have a good dose of humility ourselves.  I haven't taught nearly as many students as some people here have but I have learned things from those I have.

Maybe we have learned the hard way to stand a certain way at the anvil or swing a hammer in a certain way or plan out a project in a certain way.  Those could be considered "trade secrets."  Those also are the exact things that we will and should teach to a novice. 

Openly,

George M.

Larry,

Miss, Mrs., and Ms. are all contractions of "Mistress" (as in the feminine form of 'Master', not any B&D connotation). I don't see much difference or preference in any of the abbreviations except that individuals may prefer one or the other as is their privilege.

Etymologically,
George M.

PS I never had my fundament whooped by either the police or my father and I probably turned out all right. I've never felt that it was a hole in my life experiences.

GM

Dear Larry,

Very complex issue with, IMO, not any easy answers or solutions. I am convinced though that it has little or nothing to do with excessive or lack of corporal punishment.

George

I want to add to George M.'s comments. In my experience, which includes some historical perspective, young people today are what young people have always been; strong, optimistic, and hard working. Old people today are what old people have always been; dedicated to complaining about the younger generation. The complaints are essentially meaningless, a matter of tradition rather than actual observation. It is interesting, however, how the attributed cause of the perceived degeneracy of the younger generation changes with time. I have a book on the history of textiles, La Draperie au Moyen Age, by Dominique Cardon, which includes a quotation from a document from Late Medieval Spain. The writer attribute the perceived degeneracy of young people in that time and place to their habit of oiling wool with olive oil instead of using goose grease like decent people.

For a humorous take on the whole issue, written about 100 years ago, i.e., before today's codgers were born, read the poem "Farewell Romance" by Rudyard Kipling.

Martha

PS Martha is my wife. The brains of the outfit. Yes, we're George and Martha, just like the Washingtons.

GM

Here is the Kipling poem

THE KING


"Farewell, Romance!" the Cave-men said;
"With bone well carved he went away,
Flint arms the ignoble arrowhead,
And jasper tips the spear to-day.
Changed are the Gods of Hunt and Dance,
And he with these. Farewell, Romance!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Lake-folk sighed;
"We lift the weight of flatling years;
The caverns of the mountain-side
Hold him who scorns our hutted piers.
Lost hills whereby we dare not dwell,
Guard ye his rest. Romance, farewell!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Soldier spoke;
"By sleight of sword we may not win,
But scuffle 'mid uncleanly smoke
Of arquebus and culverin.
Honour is lost, and none may tell
Who paid good blows. Romance, farewell!"

"Farewell, Romance!" the Traders cried;
Our keels ha' lain with every sea;
The dull-returning wind and tide
Heave up the wharf where we would be;
The known and noted breezes swell
Our trudging sail. Romance, farewell!"

"Good-bye, Romance!" the Skipper said;
"He vanished with the coal we burn;
Our dial marks full steam ahead,
Our speed is timed to half a turn.
Sure as the ferried barge we ply
'Twixt port and port. Romance, good-bye!"

"Romance!" the season-tickets mourn,
"~He~ never ran to catch his train,
But passed with coach and guard and horn --
And left the local -- late again!"
Confound Romance! . . . And all unseen
Romance brought up the nine-fifteen.

His hand was on the lever laid,
His oil-can soothed the worrying cranks,
His whistle waked the snowbound grade,
His fog-horn cut the reeking Banks;
By dock and deep and mine and mill
The Boy-god reckless laboured still!

Robed, crowned and throned, he wove his spell,
Where heart-blood beat or hearth-smoke curled,
With unconsidered miracle,
Hedged in a backward-gazing world;
Then taught his chosen bard to say:
"Our King was with us -- yesterday!"


All too true. For some folk every day is another day down the road to degeneracy from an imaginary golden past. It has been forever thus.

GM

Geologic factoid: Bentonite is a type of clay that expands when wet which was first described in the area of Fort Benton, Montana in the 19th century. IIRC it is altered volcanic ash.

Trivially,
George M.

I have to disagree about folk wanting things "handed to them on a silver platter" any more than people ever did. People are built to want to take the path of least resistance. I don't think anyone ever wanted to spend more time and energy to accomplish something than was necessary. No hunter gatherer turned down the atlatl because it was "easier" than a hand held spear to take down big animals. Not many people have rejected the internet in favor of encyclopedias and libraries to answer questions because harder is better. I don't think that many smiths would be in favor of a 7 year apprentice program before the guild allowed you to sell any of your own work. Maybe it would result in a higher level of craftsmanship across the board but that is not the society we live in.

My experience with young people is that some of them are lazy dopes and some are hard working intelligent people. I doubt the ratio is largely unchanged from what it ever was whether the 1950s or the 1250s.

Also, my experience is that the "good old days" were seldom as good as they may seem in retrospect. In the 2060s today will be the "good old days." Today's young people will be codgers complaining about how tough it was in 2012 and how easy the younger generation has it.

Perspectively,
George M.

Coke is harder to light than coal.  I usually burn coke and start the fire on the principle that paper starts wood, wood starts coal, and coal starts coke. Also, a pure coke fire needs air blast to it all the time or it will self extinguish. That isn't a problem with a coal transitioning to coke fire. Once you have clinker you will recognize it, glassy, dense, melted looking, and gradually adheres to itself making large masses. Keep a fire going with coal or coke for a couple of hours and you will have clinker in the bottom of the fire.

Combustibly,
George M.

My experience is that you need to assume nothing regarding scrap steel, leaf and coil springs included.  Always do a test piece regarding forgability, hardening, tempering, welding, etc..  I've had some coil springs which were great for everything and some that wouldn't do much of anything for me.  Life is too short to mess about with some sort of weird alloy which was great for its original use but is crap for any repurposing.

One rule of thumb is that the older the source object the more likely it is to be amenable to being made into something else.  Springs off old horse drawn farm implements and pre WW2 autos tend to work better than modern alloy steels for our purposes.  That's not always true but, in my experience, it is more often than not.

Historically,

George M.

Dear Pulse,

If the audience is within hearing distance it can be effective to vigorously slap your forehead while shouting, "Shut up!  All of you just shut up!"

Schizophrenically,

George M.

Dear Neil,

However a material is removed, sandblasting, heat (in a forge or wood fire), chemically, etc. it is going into the environment somehow.  If it is burned it will go into the atmosphere as an oxide.  If it is sandblasted it will go into a landfill or where ever used abrasive is disposed.  If it is chemically removed it will either go into a sewer sytem or a landfill.  If there is something truly toxic about the best you can do is make sure that it goes to a hazmat land fill which can be quite expensive.  Also, you have to decide how hazardous or damaging a given amount of a particular material may be.  I am unaware of anything particularly toxic in powder coating in either the original powder or oxides.

Frankly, the amount of CO2 that we all produce in our forges (unless you are using induction powered by a nuclear power plant and that is a whole other batch of issues) is probably as or more damaging to the "evironment" than anything that we could burn off unless we were specifically trying to emit something nasty.  Another exception is that if you are using charcoal for forge fuel you would be participating in the normal and "natural" carbon cycle and not introducing additional carbon from fossil fuels.

Environmentally,

George M.

I would consider powder coating to be no different than painted steel.  If you would clean the painted metal before forging it then do the same for powder coating.  I, myself, would probably just stick it in the fire and let the forge burn off the coating unless, perhaps, I knew the paint was old and might or was be lead based.

Unpreparedly,

George M.

PS "wrought" (meaning "made") (nitpickily)

Dear Toggy,

This may be a long shot but you may have some surprising success if you drive up to the Iron Range country in northern MN. I'd check out any scrap/salvage yards in Hibbing. Also, I'd check around the harbor in Duluth but marine stuff can be WAY to big to repurpose.

It would take a couple of days from the Twin Cities but there is some pretty country up there and you could combine iron hunting with tourism. If you have never done it the drive up the North Shore of Lake Superior is a bucket list check off.

Remember to familiarize yourself with the local dialect so that you can talk like a netive. "You bet! That was a heck of a deal. Uff da!"

George M.

Dear All,

I have found that often times the logical, rational person expects the neighbor to interact in a rational, logical manner.  Unfortunately, some people just don't have it in them to be rational and logical.  I've occasionally seen neighbor problems get worked out over a cup of coffee but more often there is a problem with one person either the person doing the offensive activity or the offended person which defies logic.  Some people are, frankly, functionally mentally ill.  I'm afraid that there isn't much to do there except to accept the fact that the person isn't rational.

I'd suggest that Muck offer an olive branch, maybe through a 3d party or in a written letter.  If it doesn't work he's no worse off than now and he has claimed the moral high ground.

Because I live and forge in town one of the reasons I burn coke instead of coal is to minimize the smoke and odor signature.

If the situation becomes intolerable talk to an attorney.  There can be a legal remedy in some situations.  It is a last resort but sometimes there are no other resorts remaining.

Finally, document as much as you can.  Keep a log of what days and times you are forging.  I've seen that work pretty well when a person complained of noise (not blacksmithing) and the accused party was able to document that they were out of town on that day.  It made for a funnier than usual day in the courtroom.  I have seldom seen a person actually sputter.

Rationally,

George M.

Dear Terr,

Don't forget cream filled pastries and a few plain for those who need to limit their sweet intake.

And don't make sure that they are all OK by sampling them all. ;-)

Carbo loading,

George M.

Dear Sam,

Just so I understand your thought process, why did you chose filed/ground bevels rather than use a hammered technique?  I would have thought (and this is only my own imagination) that Hobbits would have hammered somethiing like that.  Or maybe it was imported from the Dwarves who seem to have a more angular/inorganic aesthetic.  Elves would certainly have used a more curvey/viney form.

Tolkienesquely,

George

Dear All,

I'm not sure of the law in Arizona but in some states firefighters, police officers, etc. have to be careful about accepting "gratutities" beyond those of "nominal value."  While a firefighter is less likely to be perceived as giving preferential treatment because of prior "favors" it is sometimes still illegal.  Here in Colorado a public employee, including volunteers, can only accept up to about $50 in gifts fron non-relatives/friends each year.  I tend to pay for my own meals at various functions just to avoid having to keep track.

I know that everyone's heart is good in most of these situations but sometimes the laws are stricter than you would think.  Territorial, I suggest that you check with your Chief to see if there might be a problem.

As in many things in this life, it is the appearance that matters, not the reality.

Gratuiously,

George M.

I just use a pair of needle nose vice grips to hold the socket while I forge out the head.  I have had no problems.

A pair of what I call "jewelers' tongs" would work too.  These are scaled up jeweler's pliers which have cone shaped jaws.  When closed the cones touch, side by side.  Particularly useful in starting a scroll.

Grippingly,

George M.

Dear Clinton,

OK, I can see that as a way keeping technique samples together and displayed.  I was unclear on your intention previously.  Thnks for the clarification.

Clearly,

George M.