The trail begins, sort of...

Here it is late Friday, early Saturday, the day we are due to leave on the first leg of the Iron Trail to the Arctic, and...well some of us will indeed leave tomorrow/today and some won't. Donnie and Forrest Goodhue will go to Clarendon, TX to pour the first iron pour of the trail, I will still be here, finishing up stuff, making molds, etc. Donnie and Forrest will pour on Sunday evening as planned, then they turn around and come back to Houston. The Clarendon pour will be the first test of the new, 10 inch diameter furnace that will continue to the arctic.

The first refractory lining didn't set-up. After a reline with a ramable refractory instead of the castable, it has been burned in, maybe... the coke is still lit, and a small blower is on overnight, backburning the furnace to try to get the well area burned in better. It is always better to have the well of the furnace burned in completely or you get cold metal until it burns itself in.
The Clarendon crew will have all the charges broken and weighed. An evening pour on the prairies of panhandle Texas should be pretty spectacular. I hope all goes well.

When Donnie and Forrest get back, Donnie ships castings from his last pour, we finish all molds that go to Wiseman, AK in the arctic, load and pack and then set off once more with the complete complement on the road to Denver for the Western Iron Conference (info, www.wicaa.org, I need to ask someone abut that acronym). The plan is to get there for Wayne Potratz's keynote speech, pick up the students who flew in, bivouac at my sister's house, participate as much as possible, and join in the group production pour next Saturday. We're not really a production machine, but its what we have.

And the news of the blog itself is that Pat Garley from Palmer, AK will be posting the progress from the Alaska end. It has the advantage that we all know whats going on and where we stand time-wise, who has made it to various gathering points, and also keep anyone who is interested abreast of the project. No pictures yet of much of anything, perhaps later.

Until next time, may your botts stick.
Butch