[TheForge] Re: Need shop space?

[Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer]

Art for security...their's ( paranoia) and ours ( economic)...and 
we get to play big!..An excellent plan Mike!

Mike Spencer wrote:
>> I agree and just how many railing jobs would need a 
>> 10,000lb hammer?
> 
> Y'know, when they build new gummint buildings that need elevated
> security against truck bombs -- especially embassies where heads of
> state may show up in white tie and limos -- Jersey barriers and razor
> wire are just soooo ugly and infra dig.  I've often thought that a
> bunch of vertical, solid 4x4 or 6x6 chunks of iron would make a much
> more artistic barrier, provided you had an industrial-scale forge and
> a really big hammer to mash them about a bit in interesting ways.
> 
> It would even make an interesting design project for a workshop:
> Assume a 10,000# hammer, bridge crane, huge furnace and all the
> peripheral sundries and helpers.  Design 200 yards of fence that is
> elegant, interesting and capable of stopping a 40-ton truck or even a
> tank withou making the place look like a Star Wars fortress.
> 
> There's a Brit -- name eludes me, I can't find the slides and, IIRC,
> he's left smithing and gone on to something else -- who made a fence
> from large chunks of heavy plate.  Torched out large (chestnut? oak?)
> leaf cluster shapes, forged the leaves and welded tham back in.  A
> subterfuge because his shop didn't have a power hammer, very effective
> and elegant.  I'm guessing a similar effect could be acheived with
> even heavier bar stock and a huge hammer.
> 
> You know, like Al Paley, only big. :-)
> 
> 
> - Mike
>