[TheForge] Steam hammers

[Ries Niemi]

Bob Cook- have you heard about Kevin Kreiger, who sometimes posts here,  
as well as on the keenjunk site?
He is working with the city of Johnstown Pa to restore and rebuild the  
old Cambria Ironworks there. It was a similar shop to your  shop- a  
captive shop for Bethlehem steel for many years. They made things like  
crane hooks and steel mill parts too. In 92, Bethlehem closed the shop  
down, but rather than tearing it down, they just shut the doors. All of  
the equipment is still there. Kevin has removed and carefully stored  
all the small stuff- tongs, tooling, dies, etc. There are 5 big hammers  
there, still installed and runnable.

  Pictures of the shop at:
   
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhsheet&fileName=pa/pa2200/ 
pa2288/sheet/ 
browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Cambria%20Iron%20Company,%20Blac 
ksmith%20Shop,%20Lower%20Works,%20Johnstown,%20Cambria%20County,%20PA&di 
splayType=1&maxCols=2&itemLink=D?hh:36:./temp/~ammem_4MA0::
You probably will have to copy and paste it to get it work- but just  
the first part will get you to the site.


The city of Johnstown just got a federal grant to restore the building,  
a remarkable 1850's octagonal brick structure.
Kevins ultimate plan is to get it back running as some sort of  
blacksmith shop- probably partly demos open to the public, partly real  
work. I am sure he would love the advice and input of someone like you  
who has worked in a shop like that. There are a few old timers still in  
Johnstown who worked there, but they were mostly pretty old ten years  
ago, when the shop  closed. Besides, its not too awfully far from you-  
maybe if they get it running, you could go down once in a while and  
show em how it is done.
If you are interested in talking with Kevin, I can give you his email-  
mail me at rniemi at fidalgo.net
Or maybe kevin will see this himself.

ries

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