Working wood

Ft Road Federation Schmidt Brewery Iron Pour Yeah!

Hi Everyone,

Well, I went to the Iron Pour this evening at the old Schmidt Brewery in St. Paul and it was a lot of fun.  I entered a sand tile and its probably full of molten iron at the moment and cooling down.

Enough chatter-here are the photos:

It was an overcast day but by evening, the weather had cleared. Here is a photo of the sunset over the brewery:


This way to the iron pour!


And this is what it looks like carved out:


Here is the general set up and a shot of the smelter. Its portable and its set up specifically for the pour:


And here is one of "Vulcans assistants." There are about 10 people who manage the smelter and help to set up:


Here is a photo of all the tiles and molds that will receive iron:


The iron is scrap iron-mostly broken up auto engines:


Heres more scrap to be used:


And buckets of coal that feed the smelter:


The smelter is being revved up in this photo and you can see one of the assistants in protective clothing:


These are molds that will be filled with molten iron and cooled. When the molds are removed, there will be a 3-D sculpture:

Here you can see the tiles being filled up. The B-52s song "Rock Lobster" is blasting away in the background. It really adds to the ambiance:


And here is a whole line of freshly poured tiles:


Tomorrow Ill go and pick up my tile. Ill break away the sand mold and if everything goes well, Ill have an iron tile in its place.

See you tomorrow,
VW