Wednesday in Wyoming - February 14, 2024

 

Imagine travelers' surprise when instead of the familiar Lincoln bust, they saw an empty pedestal during the summer of 2015. Where did Honest Abe go?

The monument was removed from the pedestal and transported to Lander, WY, where it was sandblasted and refinished by Eagle Bronze. Notice how much different the color is from its tarnished pre-restoration state.

Wednesday in Wyoming - June 29, 2016

The grand finale of the metal casting process at Eagle Bronze!

Once the casting is complete and the surface has been polished, it's time to add the patina.  What's the patina?  That's the coloring that the artist or customer has requested.

Before I toured the plant, I thought bronze statues were a single color -- bronze. Not true.  They can be any color you can imagine.

Look at the two bison.  The white one has no patina.  The blue does.  Yes, the customer requested blue bison.

As was true of many steps in the bronze casting process, applying patina requires more than one coat, and of course each coat needs to dry completely before the next one can be applied.

When all the coats of patina and sealer are complete, the piece is ready for its final step: mounting.  And then it all begins again, with a new piece of art.

I hope you've enjoyed learning a bit about one of Wyoming's businesses.  As you've probably guessed, I found it fascinating.

Wednesday in Wyoming - June 22, 2016

Continuing the saga of metal casting at Eagle Bronze ...

Last week we saw how molten bronze was poured into the ceramic mold.  Once the mold is removed, the statute is ready for the finishing touches.

If it was cast in more than one piece, which is common for large statues like this one, the pieces are welded together.  Then comes the polishing stage.  It's during this step that any residual ceramic is removed and that the surface is prepared for the final step.

Yes, next week is the final post about metal casting.  It's also one of my favorite steps in the process.  I hope you'll come back for it.

Wednesday in Wyoming - June 15, 2016

What is this?  It's the place where the actual metal casting occurs at Eagle Bronze.

Once the ceramic mold is complete, it's brought here.  The first step is to heat the mold so that the wax melts and is removed.  Now we're ready for the final casting.

Bronze ingots are placed inside this cauldron, heated to around 2000 degrees, then poured into the ceramic mold.  Once that cools and solidifies, we have a bronze statue, but the process isn't finished.  The ceramic mold has to be removed, and then ...

The saga continues next week.

Wednesday in Wyoming - June 8, 2016

The saga of bronze casting at Eagle Bronze continues.

After the wax molds are sprued, another mold is created.  (If you were wondering, this is the final mold.  We're getting close to actually casting bronze.)

This mold is ceramic and is formed by dipping the wax mold into a sand or silica slurry.  As was the case with the latex coating at the beginning of the process, there are multiple coats, with different textures of slurry for each one.

Remember the fan and gloves that started this whole story?  They're used in this step of the process.  The molds need to dry completely between coats of slurry, and the fans help with that.

Wednesday in Wyoming - June 1, 2016

Let's continue the saga of bronze casting at Eagle Bronze in Lander, Wyoming.

Remember the wax casting of half a statue in last week's post?  Once the castings are dry, they're removed from the latex mold and carefully -- very carefully -- assembled.  Then comes the spruing process.

I'd never heard of spruing, but it's the addition of those green and red rods that you see attached to the bunnies and lying on the left side of the workbench.  When the bronze is poured, the sprus allow it to flow evenly and permit the gases to vent.

Who knew there were so many steps?  And we're not finished yet.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- May 25, 2016

Continuing the story of bronze casting at Eagle Bronze ...

Does the pink color on the edges of this look familiar?  It should, since that's the latex mold we saw being applied in last week's post.

The next step is to create a wax mold.  That's the dark brown you're seeing here.  As was the case with the latex, multiple steps are involved.  The goal is to capture all the details of the original art work but in wax.

If this sounds complicated to you, it did to me, too.  That's one of the reasons I found the whole bronze casting process so fascinating -- the fact that there are so many different steps involved.

 I hope you'll join me as we continue the walk through Eagle Bronze's foundry next month.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- May 18, 2016

Continuing the story of bronze casting at Eagle Bronze ...

Remember the cards from last week's post?  Here's where they come into play.  (Sorry.  That was a bad pun, wasn't it?)

The next step in the process is to create a latex mold of the artwork.  As you can see, that's done by hand, as is most of the work in the bronze casting process.

If you look at both the piece that's being coated and the one on the left, you'll see the cards.  Their job is almost done.

Once the mold is dry ...

Wednesday in Wyoming -- May 11, 2016

Continuing the story of bronze casting at Eagle Bronze ...

Who would have thought that a deck of cards -- yes, ordinary playing cards -- would be part of the bronze casting process?

If you look at the statue on the right, you'll see pink and green pieces of something.  Those are the backs of playing cards.  A closer look shows the faces of some cards.

But what are they doing there?  You might be surprised.  Complex artwork is often cut into pieces before the molds are created.  The cards are placed along the edges of each piece to make creating the mold easier.  And then ...

I hope you'll come back next week to see what happens next.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- May 4, 2016

A fan and rubber gloves -- these are some of the tools of the trade.  But what trade would that be?  The answer is bronze casting.

You may remember that I celebrated the restoration of the Abraham Lincoln monument at the summit of Interstate 80 last fall.  As part of researching the restoration effort, I had the opportunity to visit Eagle Bronze in Lander, Wyoming.  Eagle Bronze is the company that did the restoration work -- everything from removing the statue from its pedestal to "sandblasting" it with minuscule ceramic pellets to remove the effect of decades of pollution to hoisting it back in place.

A tour of the facility showed me that while restoring Lincoln was one of their major projects for 2015, it was far from the only work they do.  The whole bronze casting process fascinated me, so I decided to share highlights with you.

Please join me over the next several weeks as we learn how bronze statues are made.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 28, 2015

The Lincoln Monument -- Part 4

Once the pedestal was ready for Lincoln,the next step was for the crane operators to secure straps around him.  I hadn't expected them to go around his neck, but as you can see, that's exactly where they were positioned.  And then it was time to go airborne.

You've heard of picture perfect weather.  That's what we had that day.

To my surprise, there was a lot of work -- hours worth -- after the bust was finally in place on the pedestal.

The same crew that had prepared the pedestal had to get it into exactly the right place, then secure it to the base.

Although that's not what's happening, this picture looks almost as if one of the workmen was trying to straighten Lincoln's tie.

Even after the straps were removed and the crane was able to leave, work continued, securing the monument to its base.  But eventually everything was completed, and the newly restored Lincoln monument was ready to greet travelers for many more years.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 21, 2015

The Lincoln Monument -- Part 3

Once the monument was sandblasted and sealed, it was time to truck it back to the summit of I-80.  Can you imagine the looks Lincoln must have gotten as he was transported down the highway?  But look at how clean he is compared to two weeks earlier.

You might think that the next step was to place the bust back on the pedestal, but there was work to be done before that.  A crew had to prepare the pedestal.  Believe it or not, that was a multi-hour project.

Next the crane had to be positioned.  And then ... 

We'll conclude the Lincoln adventure next week.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 14, 2015

The Lincoln Monument -- Part 2

Remember how dark the Lincoln monument was prior to its restoration?  Here it is inside the monument building at Eagle Bronze with the sandblasting almost finished.  Actually, sandblasting is a misnomer.  Instead of sand, special glass pellets were used to remove the oxidation from the statue.

Once that was finished, several coats of sealer were applied, followed by a special coating to protect it from UV rays.

You can see just how tall Lincoln is -- 13 1/2 feet -- by comparing the top of his head with the ladder.  It's a large statue!

And, yes, his bowtie is crooked.  Apparently many representations of Abraham Lincoln, including the engraving on the five dollar bill, show him with a crooked tie, so Robert Isaiah Russin, the artist chosen to create this statue, continued the tradition.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 7, 2015

The Lincoln Monument -- Part 1

Many travelers on Interstate 80 in Wyoming look forward to the road's summit just east of Laramie and the view of the Lincoln monument, so you can imagine how disappointed they were for a two-week period when the pedestal was empty.  Staff at the visitors' center said they had as many as forty inquiries a day about the missing statue.

Why was Lincoln gone? 

If you look at this picture taken several years before the restoration, you'll see that the statue is almost black.  That's the result of more than twenty years of oxidation and pollution.  WYDOT knew the deteroriation couldn't be allowed to continue, and so they contracted with Eagle Bronze in Lander to restore it to its original beauty.

Here's another view of the pre-restoration statue.