Hands: Powers of the Metal

they'll making coachbuilding breathing harness making tanning and rope me of all the crafts only foundry remain may power John's wife and one of the many grandchildren John and may have three girls and four boys this is Seamus pause John has handed over the running of the place to him more or less this is the family-run business in the truest sense they're a very close-knit family lovely to see in this day and age grandchildren and sons-in-law common go and help as they can but that Seamus introduces to the rest of the family that's mean Seamus power I mean the one that has to wander the donkey work and other heavy gone and that's my out of order - he's responsible for all the good and bad castings that you'll see Kevin is my younger brother and Tommy who lives off the street he drops in every now and again for a Fagin to give us a bit of a handling we can make anything in cast-iron that were asked to make tables and chairs manhole covers and fur grits and we even got an order for a man who found a garden chair in the river when they were dredging the river it dates back to Victorian homes so he wants an off side lake for the make up a garden bench and the pattern of the garden bench would be the first thing to be put down in a mold this morning the pattern will be encased in sand which is enclosed in an aluminium box and is in two halves David and Tommy walls filled one half of the box with molding sand and ramus home these loyal is brushed onto the pattern to prevent condensation from forming and to make it more easily removed from the mold the box in which the pattern is placed only supplies the temporary bed as we see partings and sprinkled it on enable the two halves of the box to be separated at a later stage but don't the sand from either side sticking together and ruining the impression a substance called bent two colors mixed with the castings and this is used as a facing to the mold to prevent the sand from burning and sticking to the casting when the metal is poured into the mold this half of the box which has been placed over the pattern will become the bottom of the mold but first it must be filled with casting sand two types of rammer are used to consolidate the sand at pega grammar which fits between the narrow bars of the box and a flat rammer to finish it off piercing the sand with wire is called venting and will allow the expanding gases of the hot metal and steam from the sand to escape the mold is now rolled over and this is how the top box becomes the bottom of the mold the sand from the other half which has served its purpose is discarded copper piping is put in place to form holes through which the molten metal will be poured parting sand is again sprinkled on this time on to the opposite side of the pattern and another layer of facing send pattern making is a craft in its own right and large foundries employ pattern makers to prepare the pattern from molding these are often made in wood and then cast in aluminium and can take weeks to make but the powers if they do not use an old and curved black casting as a pattern make up their own desert is now forming the Copts opening into which the molten metal will be poured more venting oh wait or something [Music] water squeezed around the pattern helps to solidify the edges so they can be lifted cleanly away roughing the pattern hopes to free it from the sand and prepares it for the most crucial part of all to listing free to small hooks are inserted into the holes of the pattern to make the job possible [Music] sometimes a little repair work is necessary or at least it is as soon as this repair work is completed channels are cut which will carry the Molson measures into the pattern by way of the ports in the top box there are two openings for delivering the metal to this garden chair which will have to be poured simultaneously to maintain a constant flow and pressure the foundry cycle is exactly one week moldings which starts on a Monday will continue on from Thursday evening when the whole floor of the casting area will be covered with boxes we have band practice two nights a week Michaels bottle is the conductor and teacher and the trends are there different people [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] when I started playing music sister Adnan in the third school as an infant she taught us the detective listen I've been involved in jazz over the last 10 years as well but they always wanted to read music and learn properly we get a scrub from the Connors family who live over the road my father is the one for looking out to describe because he's been at the business without a long time he's always a keen eye for a good bit of scrap throwing out money right here what's up do a coat away with your piss party we only use the best kind of scrap cast iron because we don't use any chemicals so we have to pick and choose our scrap very carefully so so most even in the metal its hardens the make it makes it very brittle at the next rapping is good a lot of you already knew it [Applause] I never lost any chicken all tonight yeah in some of the jobs like the manhole covers we do have to use what they call course for the layer holes it in four key ways and hinges this is a job from a father's job we live to him the cores are made of a mixture of sea sand linseed oil and the flour the flour is added to the sand and gets a thorough mixing the flour and the linseed oil by in the sand particles together and this will harden like cement when it's cooked in the oven and the taste of water for good measure the little wooden molds were carved from teak wood by john power he calls them liberally with diesel oil to prevent the mixture from sticking but my father has been in design casting a sense since his first job really he grew up in the country and he started walking steel accompanying in under key which were had a foundry in the early forties and fifties until he moved to England in in the early fifties a rocks at a foundry in Bristol where he learned most of the trade he worked here in this foundry honor the all honors in the 50s as well what was laid for him to be able to come back and buy the business he walked in as a chap as far as it was that a lifetime ambition really is for him - or - like that there's another one where he absolutely we already work today over here what forcing wiggle was we go and dig the martyr slash that's the job I don't really like because it's a ticking shoulder job doesn't look very good I mean what's just like that all right the margin is very handy soft figures where it replaces guns sawed-off using that in the foundries um and it squared for line and furnace as King Alfred burnt the cakes Sheamus having added water to the morrow gives it a ton of mashing to crush any small stones and make it malleable mold-making continues these are small locking grids for Dublin County Council there are six to a box and then slot into the surrounding frame hey Pat anymore [Applause] usually of the data they capped at a class or the inside of the forints we're all borns usually borns maybe a couple of inches into the bricks of the foreigners so you have to plaster every time one here one person employed interests and you should have seen the course will occupy the space where hinges and keys will fit and prevent the metal from forming these can only be fitted on the day of the casting and must be bone dry if they take up moisture that could cause an explosion within the mold during the casting poor old patch has been run out of the shed for fear of them collapsing the molds the rats will have another day of peace when you close the doors you put a layer of sand maybe it shoulders the sand in the bunkers and then you Yama's would a big long run or enough from the top if you didn't put a stand and a demented would mention the steel plates and debarment of foreigners are under the ground okay tomorrow's clay is indispensable yeah whatever kill wait the metal shoe which carries the molten metal must be lined with us for hot metal coming into contact with cold steel causes an explosion when I came here force a lot of describe was mourn machines and tournament machines and or more less fireman implements but over the years no it's kind of gone into them you have a kind of a new wave of scrap common in late allow the oil tape force attractors and they have a pronin but the biggest problem with it would do attractors and engines lux's they all have to be cleaned out all the Pistons to the crankshaft and all the knots and laws [Applause] there's been an awful lot of calls for these orders cast-iron fireplaces and in my time here after breaking up I don't know how many doesn't they've had account for every one I broke up I'd be a millionaire eterno the powers make manhole covers by the hundred and I hole in it and these must have a reinforcing plate of steel underneath the core so that when the key is used to lift the cover is won't break the casting a large lump of cast iron impervious to the hammer blows is jocking into position okay the fire and the furnace will be kindled with wood the special furnace coke is used for the firing it will be mixed with limestone to purify the metal Pat Cal is the son-in-law who helps out on the day of the casting while waiting in vehicles can be lonely Johnny died another son-in-law and part-time fireman also gives them a hand first we said before this is very much a family affair only cocoa shovel donated time and the measurement I'm stone would be added later it takes up to three hours before the fire is hot enough for the fan to be switched on well my father's nor less retired now from business course he still bees up around the are keep an eye on us put on Tom madness following his own making shortest evering are done the way he likes him done but one thing about this whole job as I said he does have good advice because they've been through a lot himself yes one slag to waste from the metal which floats to the top will go through a hole in this door the fan will blow the coke to a white-hot heat and melt the metal in about eight minutes Seamus lets the molten metal flow out of the furnace onto the ground to discover whether it's hot enough to call its recycled back into the formal charges of coal flame stolen metal will continue to be added until near the end of the pouring the father still can't resist coming up around the yard and grab the led to the Metro when the corner starts going he gets very excited with the Meccans but maybe live in with danger so much that he can't resist the temptation to be involved living with dangerous right molten metal is very unpredictable material and can bounce in all directions the large objects must be poured simultaneously from each side but double-dating to maintain pressure infusion [Music] the only use for the slag this is the filling for pods and roadways would glare off the middle it blind you for speed seconds so you have to really be used to where you're looking at a time the forest meant so fast actually meant quicker than we can take the metal away from sometimes and you have to keep going as fast as you can go there's no time for breeders or a break at the end of the day nearly unbearable heat inside you would have a theme but he wouldn't matter fast the default get material points when you're finished may power is always present it's pouring just to keep an eye on the family our presence is never resented the men know she's anxious for their safety [Applause] so fabulous and 10 under me under well before you go from your home homes in our love what's beyond no one shall know what is gold and why is silver when your house and strength has gone when you think of every Brady [Music] I really keep it small as new son all right I'm doing this big I got it won't be more like clear yeah better will be lovely onion oh yes kind of dropped waist you know but then you're left actually degeneration is one of these time here I was on some more Joey Sam yeah don't eat you have to fast teach and veggies mistake anyways oh I should be under for Newark I think you have no fake tears ran out I sure headaches Anita jams thank you goodbye on the bone to remember all your chicken insulate ball is held on the wall probably down by my side till the Airy morning ride all a particular time [Music] nice [Music] [Applause] [Music] a craft of ancient traditions facing an uncertain future but I have a feeling that the powers and their foundry will be there well into the 21st century because of shameless and there's no sign yet to the need for cast iron everything in the past I think he's right more metal to the powers [Applause] there's a grand job more history and tradition on the way from hands next Monday at 7:30 but uh

Channel: undefined

Views: 104,908

Rating: 4.9243636 out of 5

Keywords: Hands, documentary, Ireland, Irish, RTÉ, metal, foundry, cast metal, cast, iron, forge, metalwork, metal work, New Ross, Wexford, Power family, 1980's Ireland, scrap, scrap metal, molten metal, Éire, craft, tradition, work, trade, fire, steel

Id: WPnfiPi2l04

Length: 23min 30sec (1410 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 08 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/louiseber]

There was a follow up made a few years ago even [clip] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XtJ_XeHeYM