Subject: Re: coke smoke!

From: [email-masked] (The Polsons)
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 19:15:38 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
(McBeath) wrote:

> Ok.  Question about smoke.  For all those people who use forges, do
> any of you use them in the city?
> 
> my experience with them leads me to believe my new neighbours would 
> complain if i set a forge up in the back yard.  can anything be done to
> reduce the smoke of the  coal during the "purification" burn?
> 
> I am interested in setting up a forge in the yard, and have all my
> experience so far from a friend who makes his living on his forge
> and files (well, he is a farrier).

Yeah, me too!  I'm just getting into smithing, but I'm about to move to
Suburbia, and just assumed that I was out of luck as far as having a forge
in my back yard.

Is there a way to do it?  Are there "clean" burning forges (propane,
etc.).  I'm just getting started, so numbskull answers are OK.

-Craig (the .sig is my wife's)

-Willow     ([email-masked])
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The green Earth sends her incense up
>From  many a mountain shrine;
>From  folded leaf and dewey cup
She pours her sacred wine.                - John Greenleaf Whittier
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From: [email-masked] (McBeath)
Date: 22 Nov 1994 23:04:05 GMT

thanks

rod

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From: [email-masked] (David Hoopes)
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 14:59:41 GMT

>reduce the smoke of the  coal during the "purification" burn?

You must have nasty neighbours.  I have pulled my forge and anvil out
onto the drive way and forged several times.  You do get a big cloud of
green smoke when you first light up with a lot of new coal.  However once
the fire is going, you don't get all that much thick smoke.

The general reaction of the neighbors has been to come over and watch.  I
have only ever gotten one mildly bad reaction.  One guy walked over and
ask me what I was bar-b-queing.  I told him that I wasn,t cooking, I was
making me a knife.  He looked at me real funny like he didn't understand. 
So I pulled the nearly complete knife blade out and showed him.  He just
turned and walked away.  He has never tried to talk to me since.

If anyone complains, just throw a hotdog on and say your bar-b-quing :-)

>rod

Have you given any thought to a propane or natural gas forge.  They are
easy to build and less mess then coal.  I a large one at the shop, and
have been thinking about building a small one for home.  I think that I
could put it inside the garage, and just open the garage door when I
wanted to use it.  It would be a lot easier then draging the coal forge
out on the drive way.

-- 
David Hoopes                              Exabyte Corp.
[email-masked]                       11100 W 82nd St.          
Voice: (913) 492-6002 x3323               Lenexa, Ks  66214

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From: [email-masked] (william thomas powers)
Date: 30 Nov 1994 11:21:08 -0500

One of the fellows I got started forging has been shut down by the city
of Columbus, Ohio.

First they demanded that he get a letter from the EPA concerning his
coal smoke emissions, (The EPA folk laughed when he told them he averages
less than 500 pounds of coal a year; but they did write him a letter stating
that he was below any level that they would object to!)

Then 10 days before he wants to fire up he must pay $25 and fill out a form
for a *one day* permit.  He is in the local collegetown area and is on an
extremely restricted income due to the necessity of one of them staying out
of the workforce to care for their developmently disabled child.  He can't
move out to the country due to care issues for his son.  He's just up the
creek.  This happened just when his pattern welding was really getting
on-track, too.

I try to be discrete; it takes only 1 neighbor complaining to start a
big mess.

Thomas
Columbus, Ohio