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I Forge Iron

you may be a blacksmith!


irontwister

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thomas- if there was, im sorry, i didnt see it.




Definately not a new concept. Glenn even sells a T shirt with many of the YMBB sayings printed on it. One of the first Ts he offered for sale; 5? 6 years ago?? I think its still available in the IFI store
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Friends,
I have read this thread with some amusement at the various posts, but could not let the re-cycling of RR track "as fence posts" go past without without sharing what happens in parts of Australia.

In South Australia they used to re-cycle RR track with a liberal amount of concrete to make power poles, colloquially known as "Stovie Poles" (apologies to and corrections, abuse accepted from any S.A. members).

What you wind up with is a power pole that is shown in the pics attached, comprising of two RR tracks with a whole lot of concrete in the middle.

As a young man traveling Australia I could never resolve if the story about their name related to some town planner, engineer or politician, named Stovie, who decided to recycle RR in this fashion or whether the popular anecdote that if you hit one with your car it will certainly "stove" the front end in (aka. stovie).

At the end of the day I guess it shows a form of re-cycling steel (albeit without heat or hammers) and probably has its roots in the nearly 2,500 miles (4,500km) of track between Sydney and Perth and a lack of forests in S.A (which is roughly in the middle).

Anyway - A Merry Christmas to all and to get back on track for this thread....

You may be a Blacksmith if you look at a "Stovie Pole" and see a whole lot of hammers.

Trevor


Hi Trevor,
Just a quick correction, they were named after James Stobie and are quite interesting if you look at the Wiki article. The posts themselves are made of "H" iron bolted together with the gap between filled with concrete. They're renown for their ability to cut a car in two whilst still keeping all the wires up in the air.
The original Adelaide to Alice Springs telegraph wires were strung from RR track and I think the original line across the Nullabor was as well. Termites used to build tunnels 20' up the side of the pole to get to the Jarrah timber at the top.

Andrew
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  • 4 weeks later...

...you know your a blacksmith when, you think about everyone you know and who might have an anvil hiding in a garage somewheres?

as matter of factly I just stopped to visit some old friends today looking for one. they have a scrap yard that been in the family since the 20's. the old guy wasn't sure since nobody has asked for one in all the time he's been there (he's 70)

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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 weeks later...

When you take you wife out for a nice Sunday drive in the new convertible you just bought her and she realizes that you are just on a junk run for scraps set out at the curb for Monday pickup...   Yep I got caught... 

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