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I Forge Iron

Bridge Turnbuckle inspired bench base


David Kailey

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So Spokane has a bridge right over the Falls and a customer brought me a 4ft turn buckle and wanted some thing that looked "old Iron bridgey" but also wanted to be able to see the turnbuckle. So here it is....id have only used rivets but the customer wanted back up so it is welded.....even tho those old iron bridges where all riveted. lol. the most challenging part of this build was arching the 3" x 1/4" flat bar....the hard way.....it took a lot of work because the customer did not want a thinned edge.....from hammering the outside edge to help it curve....its hard to believe I know.... but it is 1/4" all the way across the arch.....As I forged I had to forge the extra steel from the inside edge across to the outside edge... this was a very painstaking task and those 2 arched took me over 3 hours to forge but....The arch is 3" x 1/4" all the way across. It don't look like much but it one of the best forgings i have produced with that level of difficulty.It was pretty tight arch because the base is only 14" across so and it took 20" of bar stock....so its pretty crunched up.... moved a lot of steel with the hammer and fire. I originally was just going to build a wedge to hold the turn buckle in place but the customer wanted the center strap to just pass thru the eyes on the turn buckle. So I removed the center strap and used a longer strap to pass thru and secure the turnbuckle.

 

 

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On 3/17/2017 at 6:56 PM, BlasterJoe said:

I know that bridge well, down in riverfront park. You definitely did it justice. Great work David. Hope your not going to paint it that blue/green.

Joe,

The picture is the piece completed......i just waxed it. Gotta let that beautiful steel radiate its glory.

On 3/16/2017 at 1:26 PM, Anachronist58 said:

Wow. Wow again on the arches. I would have trusted your rivets.

Robert Taylor

I would have trusted them also not that its really viable but the welds on the back side are a bit of a bummer for me to see.

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The Asphalt idea made me laugh, but the longer I thought about it the better I liked it.  It sounds like you are not going to be involved with the top, but if I were doing it I would try taking an elevated picture of that road top above the bridge (both lanes) than enlarging the picture to fit the new table top, sticking it onto the top and clear coating with epoxy.  David I met you at the 2016 Spring Hammer In, you are very open and kind person.  Take care.

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On 3/25/2017 at 8:00 AM, stockmaker said:

The Asphalt idea made me laugh, but the longer I thought about it the better I liked it.  It sounds like you are not going to be involved with the top, but if I were doing it I would try taking an elevated picture of that road top above the bridge (both lanes) than enlarging the picture to fit the new table top, sticking it onto the top and clear coating with epoxy.  David I met you at the 2016 Spring Hammer In, you are very open and kind person.  Take care.

Well thanks for the compliment.... hope to see you again

 

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