Buffalo, New York April 10, 2010

The day of the spring iron pour at Buffalo State College is finally here! After nearly a week of preparation, the iron furnace named ‘Betty’ was lit in the morning and Will and other experienced iron casters fed in measured charges of 7 lbs. of coke and 50 lbs. of iron. Other parts of the team lined up sand molds, ready for pouring.

When the first batch of iron was ready, the furnace was tapped, molten iron filled the waiting ladle, and the pouring began! A large ladle was hoisted on a gantry to pour the big molds, while smaller ladles were used to pour open faced ‘scratch blocks’.

Our three molds of parts from the Monitor‘s Worthington pumps were poured in the evening and everything went smoothly. We are looking forward to seeing how our replica castings turned out after the iron has cooled!