I've been working on a interesting project over the past couple
of months with Neil Stuart of The Blacksmiths Workshop Stepney City Farm. The
Restoration of two 18th century cast iron plinth lamps and the making of
two exact replicas that will be installed at White’s Club in
Piccadilly.
Having stripped down the 2 originals the patten maker was
called in to discuss how the pattens would be made to enable the mould
to be made for casting. The pattens were hand carved in wood and then
sent to the foundry for casting. Unfortunately this ended in more
components that were originally cast due to the clients budget. More
work for us! Thankfully that means more money for us and the farm! Time to put the originals back together. Easier said than done! The
components had been fixed together for over 200years so they took some
dismantling as well as damage and wear that has occurred over the
centuries. We have kept to traditional methods as far as possible with
drilling ‘n’ tapping and using rivets. In a small amount of cases, due
to the extent of damage, we have had to resort to more modern methods
such as welding and the use of special glues. With the arrival of the new components from the foundry
(eventually! Which idiot said management restructuring was a good
thing? Never heard of the saying if it ain’t broke don’t fix it ?)
we were able to assemble the the replicas. The fun and challenging bit
was making the new doors from brass T section (Damn that stuff is
expensive!) as they curve in various directions, But me and Neil both
being engineers at heart we love a challenge and got there in good time. Now the lamps will be sent of to the glass benders to be
glazed and hopefully we will be able to see the lamps installed and
working by Christmas!
The Blacksmithing courses have been getting more popular, www.blacksmithingcourses.co.uk, and the 2 sessions I ran with the farms Open Volunteers ended up with loads of smiles all round and days of verbal praise for me (which I find very embarrassing!)
Just got through the first 1/2 of term on my foundation degree course. Yep now I know why hated school the first time round, but I'm taking this more seriously and have high(ish) hope for my first assignment.
Looking forward to next month I have 2 courses with the farms Young Volunteers, which if I survive I will try and write another blog next month.
