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I Forge Iron

Sure do miss my scrap pile


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After 40+ years of living in the country we relocated (her idea not mine) to a place where the weather is more suitable to our old bones. Prior to moving I had been doing welded scrap metal art and had a sizeable scrap pile behind the barn.  The downside at the new place are the rules and one of them is no outbuildings so I hauled 2,700 lbs. to the scrap yard. Recently got into forging and there was a lot of material in that old scrap pile I could use now.

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Quietly check to see what is allowed, and what is not allowed at the new location. If you can not have out buildings, I would suspect the neighbors would vapor lock with coal smoke and scrap metal with rust on it.

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Then make the neighbors little things as gifts.

If you repair their broken stuff, then you become needed in the community.

Invite them over to watch or even help you at the forge. Nothing like a little knowledge to help them understand what you are doing.

 

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2 minutes ago, Happy Fish Forge said:

Yep, the neighbors and the H.O.A would have a fit. At least they cannot control what I do in my garage so I'm using propane and no hammering at night. Not use to having neighbors but got lucky and we are on friendly terms ... I'd like to keep it that way.

I since moving here 10 years ago have slowly added more and more scrap and machinery, and forging equipment onto site.. The plan is I will be putting up a new shop which all the new stuff will be going into or behind.. 

With that in mind I have also done demonstrations in town,  worked for or with town people and even did some freebie work for the town historical committee.. All in the name of not being on a bad list.. 

Rutland has a wonderful home based business setup where you can display a sign up to 2'X3'..     Only problem is the business has to be behind the house..  This can be a problem for people like myself as the land gently slopes away from the main road (80'X40'X14' building) but the soil is full of clay and water..  Heavy trucks can't back behind the house other than in a draught..  So for me to do this I need to come with 2000 yards of fill..   It works out to right around 70K not including site work for the gravel/fill..  

 

So ideally because I want to teach blacksmithing commercially at some point I was going to put the shop behind the house as there is no concern about neighbors or the town.. But after looking at the extra cost which wasn't even considered I decided to put it on the side of the house.. The building inspector was ok with either spot..    Ok, here comes the kicker..   We have a wind that blows to the south all summer long..  Guess which way the road travels and which way all the houses are.. Yup you guessed it.. All south of me..   

If I put the shop out back I could start an iron refinery with no body able to say anything..  Putting it on the side of the house it makes it more likely people will have the ability to say something and it have weight..   

Sorry for the long story..  I'd say ideally become really good friends with the neighbors, do little projects like a park bench or something they would love to see and use  and start the scrap pile somewhere they can't see it..         

Just about every house on the street doesn't looked lived in except for ours.. 

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