Update to now

Last entry was from Fairbanks on the way to the arctic, and we have the pictures to prove it, we stopped at the highway point that says that you have gotten to the arctic circle, but the arctic circle latitude is actually a few miles further south. The highway is such that its an inconvenient turnoff at the actual latitude. We persevered on to Wiseman another 60 miles, actually 58, you have to come back south two miles from the “haul road” to get to the town. And it’s the 100^th anniversary of the Village of Wiseman as well as then 50^th of Keen Foundry, I have no particular date to add to the festivities.

Wiseman is a long established northern most outpost for the gold rush, the place where the first air travel in Alaska traveled.. Bi-planes landed on the gravel bars in the Koyukuk river just upstream of the intersection of Wiseman Creek. The pilots had to protect the planes from the residents, who were understandably fascinated with the new invention.

We arrived on Thursday evening, the eight of us: Donnie, Kristi, Forrest, Barbra, Joe, Mandy, Rhonda Mc Nally (who met us in Fairbanks), & myself. We checked into the Boreal Lodge and as we could, slept. Its tough to sleep when the sun NEVER goes down; I can nap with the best of them, but its still difficult.

Friday morning we unloaded the trucks and began setting up the furnace, etc. Just at the opportune moment Pat Garley, Shane Morgan (from Montana), D’Jean Jawrunner (from New Mexico), Sarah Byrnes (from Ohio), and Laura & Eric West(from California) arrived with the propane and extra coke.. We were in fat city. We spent the day burning in the lining on the trashcan cupolette, finally leaving it burning, but covered so as to not start a fire. Margaritas all around. Later that “evening” (remember the sun NEVER sets) Wendy Crosskey and Hannah Stevenson and Tamara Wilson, her students from The University of Alaska, Fairbanks, arrived to complete the complement.

Saturday morning we started by unloading molds and charges. We had made the molds in Houston, prior to leaving, now the community members had their opportunity to decorate a facet of the obelisk that we had envisioned. They were hesitant at first, then they became enthusiastic as the molds were readied. We charged the furnace and when we saw that we had melted the charges, we tapped and poured the first mold. The metal was hot, but not as hot as we wished, and not as much as we were supposed to have. We went to two and a half charges and tapped. We had hot metal, but not as hot as we knew it would make. Those molds poured fine, but the metal was not as hot as we wished. We “back burned” from the top and “power slagged” to get the trash out of the well.

Next time we went to three full charges of 25 pounds each. And we got lots of very hot metal. Several molds got poured. That seemed to be the answer. BUT, when we tried the same regime the next time we got NOTHING, no metal and the tap hole was frozen.

At that point we had the choice of shutting down or trying to clear the cupolette. We dumped the entire thing, all coke, whatever metal, etc. And started again from new bed coke & back burning to ensure that we had a hot well. Again we got hot metal, more molds got poured; BUT the next time we had a well full of slag and no metal. We decided to call it off and dumped every thing once more. We never did get metal again.

We did cast a plaque, the “cap piece”, the base & one section to the obelisk, plus several of the molds that had come up from Pat’s molding workshop. In retrospect, its obvious that I had made the well too deep and the metal was cooling before the third charge was melted. So much for calculations versus experience. I SHOULD have taken the measurements from the furnace that worked in NYC and raised the slagger and tuyere an inch or so to give us the 50 pounds we needed. But I had recalculated and went with those measurements.

As Pat said, it wasn’t a runaway success, nor was it an unqualified failure. Somewhere in between. The plaque, which poured slightly “short”, but OK, is now installed next to the flag pole at the Wiseman Community center, the base, cap, and section, and other section molds are on their way to Palmer to be finished out and/or poured at the Wasilla pour next Saturday, or, God forbid, at Kenai the Friday after. The entire project will be complete sometime between now and next August.

We cleaned the site on Sunday, after the Saturday pour. Its pretty much the same as when we arrived, except there is a lightly used cupolette sitting next to the 55 gallon, burn barrel and a few chunks of mold waste that will be carved into molds before next year’s Wasilla pour.

But, as far as the residents of Wiseman were concerned, it was a smashing success. When we stopped at the Visitor’s Center and cafe in Cold Foot this Monday morning to get our “certificates” that verify that we have crossed the arctic circle, everyone was happy and still excited. It had been exhilarating for them to have us come and even attempt to pour iron, and the plaque was just gravy after the fact.

And, Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that mid-pour we got about twenty minutes of rain and that the mosquitoes were vicious. Kristin, one of the ladies who invited us to Wiseman, always had a lit mosquito coil in her hand as she walked around. We had to make do with the Off that we brought.

Further Update to Now, Now Having Changed

The current NOW is in Palmer, Alaska, at Pat Garley’s studio. We had traveled back down the Dalton Highway to Fairbanks and Wendy Crossky’s studio where we over-nighted and went to the University of Alaska Museum of the North. Then we continued southward on the Parks Highway to Denali National Park. Denali is crowded this time of year, there were two reserved spaces for the bus tour for the 27^th, otherwise you were traveling on a space available status. We drove in as far as we were allowed to the Savage River. It is pretty savage; I estimated that there was a 100 foot gradient drop in less than a quarter mile.

The big draw is, of course, Mount McKinley; but you have to get beyond our vantage point to see it in the park itself. However, there are a couple of great views at turn-offs further south. We were fortunate that there weren’t clouds obscuring the summit when we got there. Late that “evening” (it still hasn’t gotten dark yet) we got to Pat’s. The next day we got to work.

Preparations for the Wasilla Pour are underway. Scott Hamann had delivered the furnace that Pat designed and we burned it in, twice. With a couple of minor modifications it looks ready to run and should tap out between 120-200 pounds, depending.

We have fabricated two ladles, one standard refractory lined and one that D’Jean made with fiber lining, plus we still have two of our smaller fiber ladles as backup, just in case. We still have to make some cupola tools and finish up molds.

Further down the new Now.

The Wasilla pour is history, we haven’t cleaned up the site yet, but its done. Most importantly, it went very well. Lots of good hot iron. The new cupolette tapped 220 pounds, or would have if we’d had a ladle big enough; we had to bott mid-stream and the crew didn’t like a heavy ladle, so we took three taps per set of charges. All the molds poured, only one had any mis-casting, & I suspect that the core was too thick at that point, or it shifted in transit.

The piece for Wiseman is all cast and ready to be finished at leisure. The Wasilla plaque is ready to clean and install. And the Museum of Transportation and Industry is happy with us.

The public information has been spotty and somewhat inaccurate, but great fun. In the local Palmer newspaper D’Jean Jawrunner is the “featured” artist because she is a known quantity here. Pat, Donnie, & I have given her a hard time about it, mostly Pat who is local and can’t get much of a mention in his home town. They have known each other for so long now its difficult to know who did what first, but D'Jean is the "teacher of record". My father always used to say that “a prophet’s mouth is always ‘stopped’ in his own land”, it seems to still be true. We shall see what the Anchorage paper has to say in its Wednesday section.

Pictures and extensive info to follow. Internet access is mostly not easily available, sorry.

Butch

Finally to the Interior

I’m not sure exactly what to say about the ferry ride to Haines, it was a boat trip. It was a big boat, but even the biggest isn’t the same as our normal perceptions of space. We normally operate over a much wider area than we think about and its not until you’re in a confined space that you realize just how much area we’re used to occupying.

It was pleasant, the crew seemed efficient, & the cabin was small for the four of us: myself, Forrest, Donnie & his daughter Kristi. I spent much time in the lounge areas or on deck, either reading or watching the mountains go by. I’ve never been to Scandinavia, but I imagine the fiords are much like the inner passage, deep water surrounded by forested vertical peaks. Not that the peaks immediately around the water are all that tall, but they are backed up by taller snow topped mountains, sometimes with glaciers inching down them and waterfalls from the melt run-off. Everyone saw a least one whale, I think I saw a sea-otter and a seal too, and eagles. The further north we traveled, the longer the daylight & time has become distorted, it never did get dark last “night”.

The ship had selective WIFI connectivity, at its discretion, not ours; and when we were at or around a city some had cell phone connectivity, but not me.

What the isolation did for me was to make me wonder just why I prefer to pour iron. Why was I spending this much time, effort, and money to go to an end of the earth to pour iron? I’ve been on “why iron” panels at conferences, but I’ve never felt that I succinctly stated its allure. Physically its heavy, at pouring temperatures its dangerously hot, it has more intrinsic energy, when spilled it “bounces”, and at the proper temperature it runs into thin sections better than any other metal. It’s a common metal, most of the earth’s surface contains at least some iron, so its fitting for the proletariat in me that works hard at difficult tasks for not much reward. It’s a very “moral” metal, almost Puritanical in its difficultly and demand, but more positive in its feedback in the form of an object than any religion can promise. And at its most basic, its beautiful; regardless of what stage of the object making process you look at it. Fresh from the mold its black and gritty, cleaned and blasted its pristine yet soft appearing, and once it begins the patina process of corrosion it reveals nuances of color. There’s a reason why iron is the most versatile glaze colorant for potters, it runs the gamut from reds, oranges, and yellows to the celadon blues or greens to browns, a “temoku purple” and deep and mysterious black. Truly phenomenal and it lasts. We stopped at a museum with objects from the “gold rush” days and there were objects that, while not in their original usable condition, gave mute testimony to some long forgotten person’s efforts.

So I gazed at my navel when I wasn’t looking at scenery.

Now we’re in Fairbanks, Alaska having survived the potential wrath of Canadian customs officials. We didn’t have any problem, but there was this one young lady who had everything pulled out of her station wagon, had it trampled by a slobbery dog, and if there was anything illegal or embarrassing in her possessions, it surely was exposed. We never did see her after we left customs and we drove slowly because the road is good, but not that good.

The scenery through Canada was alternately spectacular and boring. You may never see anything as wondrous as a tree, but after the first couple of million your vision does get more selective. Usually it was the space between things that was most interesting. Some of the mountains were impressive, but the valleys were more comprehendible as beauty.

The major impediment to enjoyment was the weather. It was cold and rainy most of the trip, it still is as I type this. Hopefully we will get at least dryer conditions when we get to Wiseman.

And this is probably a good time to introduce our “shadow group” from Texas. All along the trail we have been in caravan with Joe & Barbra Hetricks and their grand-daughter Mandy. They have relatives in the Palmer, AK area and have known Donnie for some years now. They had the time and inclination, and have been faithful and uncomplaining companions to our lunacy.

Another welcome addition will be D’Jean Jawrunner. I was so pleased when I read Pat’s post saying that she had arrived. It was at her place in Tucumcari, NM that the conversation started that set us off in this endeavor. She certainly deserves a place at the madness.

And the link is current at IRONPOUR.COM, thank you Michael.

If dryer lint is a “feminist material”, what is belly-button lint?

Butch

they're here

Hey
Well we have some new arrivals in Alaska. Donnie keen and Butch Jack and company have arrived in Haines and are making thier way to Wiseman.
Tonight I picked up 4 participants at the Anchorage airport. Laura and Eric West are here and D'jean Jawrunner and Susan Byrnes also arrived . They managed to arrive within the same hour on 3 different flights by 3 different carriers.
We will be spending the next couple of days making sand molds and preparing stuff for the trip to Wiseman trip. We plan to leave early Thursday and head for Wiseman.
Speaking of new arrivals Scott Hamann of Kenai came up to Palmer this last saturday and dropped off the new cupolette. The Metal Magic Melter Is a beauty and hopefully will live up to her name. we will be doing a trial run next week to make sure we are ready for the Wasilla and Kenai pours.
Thats all for now.
Pat

The last day ashore & aboard the Good ship Columbia

The last day ashore & aboard the Good ship Columbia

The last day before boarding the ferry was spent getting some warmer clothes at REI and a trip to the campus of Western Washington University to see their outdoor sculpture collection. Its a nice campus with about twice the enrolment of my home base, Lamar University, Beaumont. They have spent their percent-for-art money on “blue-chip” works. We didn’t see them all because we didn’t think we had time, as it turned out we could have spent hours there but our parking permit ran out after an hour. They have an efficient, but overly officious, for my taste, parking regime. I had to see the sculpture facilities; well equipped, but small for their enrolment, pretty much like home. Many thanks to Pat Eley, the “responsible adult” in the Art Department who gave us the tour.

We went to check in for the ferry loading and were put in line with the other vehicles that were bound for Haines, the last stop of the voyage. Because we were going to the end of the line, we were among the last to load, but only after the home-land security dog decided we were OK.

It has occurred to me that many folks who would be likely to read this, think of a ferry in the same size, scale, & configuration as the ones at Boliver peninsula; the Columbia is substantially different. Its almost the size of a cruise ship, not quite so tall or long, but a massive, huge ship in its own right. It has seven decks from the cavernous auto-deck to the crew-only navigation deck. Run by the state of Alaska, its part of the “marine highway system”. There are somewhere around 60-80 vehicles on board, ranging from motorcycles to semi-trailers. Some passengers have cabins, some are in tents duct-taped down to the outside deck, others just have a sleeping bag and a lounge chair. There’s an age gap between the younger, college-age crowd going to Alaska for adventure and summer jobs and the older group who are taking that vacation that they’ve always promised themselves. Some, of course, are on their way home or to a job. One largish flatbed truck is on its way to Juno to be the basis of a motor-home. Donnie had to “adjust” his truck to fit the 23 foot limit.

As for the passage itself, the scenery is very green & grey. The sea reflects the grey of the overcast sky and the mountains on both sides of the channels are vertical slabs of evergreen trees. The mountains aren’t that tall compared to the Rockies, they stick straight up out of the water for as much as 3000 feet, but there is snow on the wind scoured tops and the grey of the sky blends with the snow, so the only way to judge the height is to follow the trajectory of the trees going up the edges. The cloud ceiling is low enough that some of the mountain tops are obscured. We have traversed some open water; there were whales and dolphins in those areas; I have to admit I didn’t see them, but there are crowds of people at the front viewing areas who did. We get to Ketchikan tomorrow morning early, then roughly 24 hours later we get into Haines and the trek begins again.

And, there are some who don't know Forrest Goodhue of Beaumont, TX. He is the "Photographer of all things iron" & has been for the past ten years and it is our good fortune to have him along on this journey of iron.

time is flying

Hey
On the Alaska end of things its going to get hectic soon with the arrival of the road travelers and others who are flying in. four people are arriving Monday into Anchorage where I'll pick them up.
Our furnace for the Wasilla and Kenai pours is built. The refractory cast. The blower is being mounted and accessories are being fabricated, Ladles, skimmers etc.
We will be making sand molds at my studio in Palmer on Tuesday and Wednesday and are planning to leave for Wiseman on Thursday morning. The weather in Alaska has been on the cool side with highs in the upper 50s and lows in the 40s. but I hope for a little warmer weather next week.
In a little research about casting in Alaska I have found references to Iron foundries set up first by the Russians in what is now Sitka. They used charcoal to cast iron fittings for the ships they built to service the fur trade. Later references to a Iron foundry in Juneau which used coal to make and repair equipment for the gold mines in the area. Other references and photos around 1920 talk about the coking of coal for an iron foundry in Anchorage operated by the railroad.
With Alaska's long history of major mining operations even above the Arctic Circle such as Nome.
I would hesitate to say this will be the first Iron pour above the Arctic circle. Though it may be.
It will definitely be the first for the purpose of creating art work.
well back to work.
Pat

Just about to ferry to Alaska

Tomorrow we board the ferry to Haines, Alaska. Its more of an adventure than the pour, since I'm a native of Kansas and we didn't have such large bodies of water. And its the closest thing to a vacation on the trip because there's nothing that we can or have to do. I do have a new phone, but it may or may not work, partially their fault, partially where we're going. And I no longer have anyone's phone numbers, so I can't call anyone anyway. It is passing strange how dependent we become on these technological props, I avoided it as long as I could, but even I succumbed to the convenience.

I suppose to be "accurate" about the whole event we should somehow use a natural draft system and eschew the generator that we brought to power the blowers; maybe a bellows of some description. Technology doesn't so much change, as get more productive through an automation and development of sorts. We won't sit around in a circle puffing into the furnace because the electric blowers do it for us. But otherwise the processes are basically the same as two millenniums past; a worker from the Darby furnace in Ironbridge, England would recognize everything we have to make our job easier than was his. He might not prefer it to what he was used to, but it wouldn't be that foreign to him.

Oh well, its late; it brings on idle speculation.

Always know where the lifeboats launch,
Butch

Spokane Blues

Got the Spokane Blues

‘Cause all it does is rain

I suppose it could be worse,

‘Cause snow would be a pain (in the ****).

We started off Wednesday morning with high hopes that we would be in Seattle by the afternoon. ‘Twas not to be; we sit in a Ford dealership just outside Spokane because the truck developed a habit of shutting down and firing back up. At least we drove in to get it fixed instead of having to be towed.

We had an “extra” day programmed in, so no time should be lost getting to the ferry in Bellingham, but we may miss the new sculpture park in Seattle. And, I was looking forward to showing Donnie the Chinese iron castings in the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

They have incredible detail and thin-ness for the technology of the time and place.

It is somewhat ironic (if you’ll pardon the expression) that we have the arrogance to consider ourselves ferrous-temperature foundry-men, when it has been done with as good or better craftsmanship for many centuries now. It makes me wonder if those who preceded us had the same feelings. There is a certain commonality of experiences through the centuries when we compare what we produce. The Chinese foundry-men were making an object for veneration of a spiritual vein; I make things for contemplation that I suppose could be spiritual but outside of an organized dogma. Are the two comparable? Should they be compared? Has human endeavor progressed or are we just fooling ourselves? A certain humility and skepticism would seem to be appropriate.

Iron casting originated in eastern Europe some thousands of years ago, before recorded history, its not unreasonable that someone took that technology northward above the arctic circle before. At the same time, ferrous temperature foundry didn’t happen on the North American continent until European settlement, as far as we know. So we could be the first on this continent at least. We didn’t really set out to be in the Guinness Book of Records, but we could be.

It’s easy to fall into such speculation while waiting for parts and repairs under the grey skies of eastern Washington. I was really looking forward to seeing that sculpture park.

I hope your “cam shaft position sensor” is in the proper condition.

Butch

Onward from Denver

Onward from Denver

The Western Cast Iron Art Conference was a good meeting, although I missed some of the most interesting parts getting there late. The metallurgy panel that Elliot Brown, Donnie, & I did seemed to be well received. Elliot is a “real” metallurgist and gave a technical presentation, Donnie described how he approaches the same thing from a “seat of the pants” viewpoint, and, as moderator, I just took notes and summed up what seemed to be most important.

The “Iron Tribe” exhibition opening featured a celebration of the life of Charlie Hook by his widow Deborah LaGrasse. I knew Charles for more years than either of us wanted to admit and I’ll miss his participation in things iron.

The exhibit itself was a remarkable survey of works from old & new guard, foreign & domestic. Some were just the molds that were to be cast the next day during the production pours. They were just as interesting as sculptures in sand as the eventual castings. Great presentation of the work, in a nice space. Kudos to David Lobdell.

The “performance casting” night went off without any apparent hitches. Bowling will never seem the same after watching freshly cast, glowing cast iron balls run down the ramp towards a set of ceramic shell bowling pins.

The production pour day seemed to go well too. We didn’t participate because our furnace didn’t work, but the furnaces that did run functioned well. Furnaces from the University of Minnesota, University of Montana, and University of Colorado, Denver were the stars of the day. The fact that the M & M cupolas were student built, bodes well for the future. The Montana furnace cast the largest piece from the workshops and an “Iron Trail to the Arctic” plaque, we left the plaque with the Denver host crew.

While the pouring action was happening, students from Lamar University rammed-up the refractory into the trashcan that will be our Alaska furnace. When it was done we lit a fire in it and went to my sister’s home for drinks and dinner. That fact that my sister makes excellent wine made drinks somewhat mandatory, the fact that Tom, her husband, makes whisky from any unclaimed alcohol made it dangerous. They were grand & generous hosts.

The “Trail” continued Sunday, getting as far as Casper Wyoming. Monday started fast, but slowed down with sight-seeing. The interstate goes right by the scene of G.A. Custer’s defeat at Little Big Horn, we had to stop. As a battlefield, it wouldn’t be my choice, there was no cover to fight from. Custer made mistakes and his Indian opponents didn’t. Custer lost. It was very strange to stand at the highest point of the battle scene and try to imagine the actions that took place so long ago. The mayhem, noise, smells had to be totally disorienting to the 7^th Cavalry; modern archeology has exposed a lot of the causes of the defeat, finding firing patterns from both sides with forensic techniques.

As I say it was somewhat surreal, but one of the most surreal facets was that, as I was walking back down from the scene of the conflict, I was met by a bus-load of Japanese tourists climbing up the hill. I can’t imagine what they took away from the experience.

So for tonight, from lovely downtown Billings, Montana, peace…

Butch

Note: any photographs will be by Forrest Goodhue, official photographer for all things Iron.

we are getting closer

Hey,
Things here in Alaska are moving along, we just got word that some more coke we are having shipped up is ready to be loaded on a ship, which should arrive in the next week or so.
We are continuing to collect Iron . We plan on using mostly automotive scrap brake drums, rotors and exhaust manifolds. there is still a lot of breaking to do.
More people have signed up to join us in Wiseman .

Logistics are the key to that pour. From my house in Palmer AK we will be driving approximately 650 miles to Wiseman. we will be driving up the Parks Highway Past the entrance to Denali National Park. up to Fairbanks AK. Then on to wiseman we will be on the Dalton highway or as it is known in Alaska the Haul road. Its called the Haul road as it was built to allow equipment and supplies to be trucked to the oil fields on the edge of the Arctic Ocean.

The haul road from Fairbanks to Wiseman is about 250 miles and about 100 is paved the rest being maintained gravel road. On arrival in Wiseman Pop13 year round residents. we will set up at the Wiseman Community center which is near the bank of the Koyokuk river. A beautiful setting.

Wiseman is a village off the grid, no public electricity and no running water. the only electricity is what the residents generate themselves by fuel or wind.

So as I said logistics is everything. we will be hauling all of our food and equipment including coke ,iron molds, etc the whole distance. the crews coming from Houston will have come thousands of miles to reach Wiseman and are bringing the furnace.
We will need to be self sufficient as the nearest hardware or grocery store will be over 200 miles away.

Denver at Last

It took a small disaster to avoid a larger disaster, but we actually got to the Western Cast Iron Art Conference in Denver. I lost my cell phone just as we were leaving Houston, the extra time that it took to unsuccessfully search for the phone put us an hour later getting to the Texas panhandle region. Just as we pulling in to Vernon, TX, all traffic stopped for a about a mile. It turned out that there had been a major tornado in Vernon about an hour before, power lines were down and there were a series of detours around various impediments to traffic. It cost us a couple of hours time, but we were safe.

After an all night drive we arrived in Denver about noon on Friday, we were scheduled to give a panel on metallurgy at 2:45. A little close for comfort but OK. The panel went well, Elliot Brown, an actual, real metallugist presented the "scientific" aspects of cupola operation, Donnie gave a "seat of the pants" operational presentation, and I merely listened to both and gave my observations. There was a video recording going, so it should be available somewhere after the fact. The panels that I was able to observe were well presented and interesting, which makes me wonder, what about the ones that we missed trying to get the cupola to work? Sigh...

Today, Saturday, is the production pour day. We were supposed to be operating as well, but the furnace is just a pile of materials and good intentions as we speak. We shall see...

Watch out for meterological abberations,
Butch

3 Days late for Denver

Another busy and frustrating day. Donnie & Forrest stayed up half the night putting a windbox and four tuyeres onto the machine, and it still doesn't work right. After the second try of the day, Donnie just looked over at me and said,"Lets build a trashcan." For those of you who don't have a history with us, I built the first "Oscar the Grouch" cupolette (so named by Wayne Potratz) at the 2nd International cast iron conference at Sloss furnaces in Birmingham, AL in 1992. It was my intention to make something that anyone could make and run by themselves if necessary. And it works, better some times and not so better others. We Built another version at the 5th Int'l Conference in Iron Bridge, UK in 2006. I ran the original machine in NYC a couple weeks back and it made hot metal right on schedule. Unfortunately, I left it with the Texas Firehouse for their use in future.

So, we will not be pouring in Denver, we'll be building a furnace that we will pour with in Wiseman. For all those folks in Alaska who have never seen such a thing, it will be interesting. The folks in Wiseman probably don't know what to expect and will most likely be surprised by this 20 gallon trashcan that will melt iron.

But now its on to Denver and the Western Cast Iron Art Conference (wciac.org, not wicca, I was mistaken). Donnie and I are still on the metallurgical panel, I think, and fortunately its the very last panel of the conference, so we have time to get there. Leaving tomorrow (Thursday) and driving straight through. Not the original plan, but one must be flexible. My father would have said that it keeps one young, and it worked for him.

So, til we're on the road and posting from a Starbuck's hot spot, keep you tuyeres clean.
Butch

Hi Everybody,
This is Pat Garley on the Alaska end of Iron Trail. Things here in Alaska are going well preparations are coming along. This past weekend Wendy Croskrey Sculpture professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks and several of her students came down to Palmer and we made sand molds.
There will be 3 pours here each about a week apart. The first will be in Wiseman about 50 miles above the Arctic circle. Wiseman is a small village with about 13 year round residents. there is no electricity or running water in Wiseman unless you count the Koyokuk river. But the people are friendly and the scenery is beautiful. To reach Wiseman you must travel the Dalton Highway 300miles north from Fairbanks . Its called a highway by Alaskan standards because at least 100 miles of it has some pavement. During our stay in Wiseman the sun will not drop below the horizon and we will have 24hrs of Daylight.
The second Pour will be in Wasilla about 350 miles south of Fairbanks. This pour will take place at the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry. We thought that this would be an appropriate venue for demonstrating old technology as the Museum has a collection of planes ,trains, and automobiles as well as boats ,snow machines and equipment from Alaska's past.
The iron casters will be joined at the Museum by Artists demonstrating Blacksmithing, Raku fired pottery and other artists for a day long art festival complete with art vendors, food booths and live music.
The third and final stop for the Iron trail will be in the city of Kenai about 150 miles south of Anchorage. There we will be casting on the 4th of July as part of the City's Independence day celebration.
So you can see we will be traveling quite a bit within Alaska over 800 miles from wiseman to Kenai. Pouring 3 times in 3 weeks. Its going to be fun.

The furncae is NOT working

And Donnie & Forrest Goodhue took the new furnace to Clarendon, TX to do a test pour, that was going to be our first stop on the "Trail". It didn't work, one tap of cold metal and nothing. Had to use an oxygen lance to open the tap hole, skulled the ladle, got zilch. So today, or rather this evening into this morning, was spent trouble shooting the machine; we know its an air problem, but too much or too little, too high a verocity, too much volume? The coke at the tuyere goes black under blast. That says too much air, or it could be that the well hasn't fully burned in and is stealing heat to cure.
After fighting it for a few hours I'm ready to agree with Donnie & Forrest that its too much air, but I ran a trashcan furnace in NYC a week ago with the same blower, & its a lot smaller. So now to ascertain what blower will give us the right amount and what kind of connection. In NYC I used an aluminum dryer vent hose from Home Depot and cut a slot in it to "spill" excess air, Home Depot isn't open 24 hours like it used to be, so its another day shot testing. We will be lucky to get to Denver by Thursday at this rate.
Two students are wandering around Denver waiting for us; I wish I could remember the name of the pool hall that had those great "billiard" tables, I'd send them there, they could get a little culture.
Tomorrow will bring what it will, til then don't take any wooden bott sticks.
Butch