28 August 2009

5000 lbs

Prior to Franconia's 2009 iron pour, 1200-1500 pounds of iron was the norm for an average pour day. But we were at Franconia Sculpture Park where everything is large scale.
We were pouring the 15 artists' molds and dozens of scratch tiles the public sculpted in the park the day of the pour. Although sometimes controversial, pouring the scratch tiles was first priority. If we wanted the community to bring their creations home with them, they needed edges cut off, sand removed, grounded smooth and quenched. This happened due to the heroic efforts of interns and helpers who spent hours of their day at the grinding table.
Now for the other 4000lbs of iron to be poured.
Our pour teams soon dissolved with artists wanting to pour their own pieces. I understand this, I usually want to pour mine too. Fortunately, we had an amazing core group of iron artists who never left the pour floor so communication stayed open between the furnace operators and the mold captain.
The furnace spit out hundreds of pounds before it became a little gummy. Keeping the tap hole open for the final few ladles, everyone's pieces were poured.
If we are going to pour 5000 lbs next year, we may want two furnaces. One, with a team of 4 minimum, to run a 100 pound cupalette focusing on the communities scratch tiles and a 300 pound furnace focusing on the artists' molds.
Incredible day, incredible dedication , incredible stick-to-it-tiveness, incredible iron artists, incredible sculpture park. make a visit

1 comment:

  1. A note about iron amounts; in 2008 we poured around 4000 pounds at Franconia using the same furnace from Anurag. I think it was about 3000 in 2007, and in 2006 we had 30 some artists and two furnaces running, but i don't remember the final number.

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