Metal Working: Old Meets New, as One Man Teaches and Serves
Story & Photos by PA3 Sabrina Rivera-Arrayan and MKC John Brummett
Blacksmithing, the art of crafting crude metal into useable implement, is one man's passion, expertise and goal to pass on the skills of the trade.
Blacksmithing is one of the oldest crafts and was a major cornerstone that helped build our modern world. It has been in existence since the Iron Age and was needed for everything from wagons, to farming tools, weapons and even the first compass containing north and south poles. Blacksmithing has helped to teach mankind metallurgic properties such as melting points, hardening techniques and how metal acts when hot. Today the craft has taken on a different role and is used in amusement parks, restored historical villages, and for more artistic uses such as metal sculptures.
Martin W. Taylor, Weld Maintenance Leader in the Engineering Department on Coast Guard Island in Alameda, Calif., has brought this ancient art to ISC Alameda's Industrial Metal Fabrication Shop. He has coupled the art with the shop's most modern piece of equipment, the Plasma CAM (a plasma cutting machine controlled by a computer), to serve operational units and to teach many people who are new to metal working.
The Plasma CAM is mainly used to cut metal into specific shapes. The first step in using the machine is to draw the shape that needs to be created. Then this sketch is uploaded or manually drawn into the computer. Once the drawing is final, the computer relays the information to the Plasma CAM. The machine then cuts the specified shapes into the metal plate using a plasma arch cutting unit, which is hot enough to cut through one inch steel.
| ALAMEDA, Calif. (May 19. 2006) - Martin W. Taylor (right), a Weld Maintenance Leader, and Frank Drenk, a crane operator and welder with the Coast Guard Island Engineering Department and Metal Fabrication shop, work with the Plasma CAM (a plasma cutting machine controlled by a computer) to demonstrate the abilities of the machine to cut shapes and designs into a piece of metal. (U.S. Coast Guard photos by Petty Officer 3rd Class Sabrina Rivera-Arrayan) |
The crew of the Metal Fabrication Shop increased their skill with the machine and the use of blacksmithing techniques by taking on small ornamental jobs. They designed two steel signs, one for the shop and one for the Naval Engineering Support Unit (NESU) Damage Control (DC) shop. Each sign consists of the unit name's lettering in Old English, the outline of a blacksmith, the gear to represent the Machinery Technician (MK) rating and two crossed hammers to represent the DC rating. The signs hang from iron rods above the entrance of each shop.
Another project was the creation of an outdoor stove made of steel for the Pacific Area Strike Team. The Plasma Cam was used to cut flames and the Coast Guard shield on the front of the oven.
Taylor and Frank Drenik, a Coast Guard crane operator and welder, created a 2 feet by 6 feet mural featuring two Coast Guard cutters and a helicopter surrounded by the Golden Gate Bridge. The aluminum masterpiece dresses the entrance to the shop's storage room on Coast Guard Island.
During the creation of a handrail for Air Station San Francisco, both the Plasma Cam and a blacksmith gas forge, which is a piece of equipment used to heat metal, created by Taylor, were used. Taylor and Petty Officer 2nd Class Crystal Reagan, a damage control specialist, created the handrail to correct the safety hazard present behind the Air Station's gym. The Plasma Cam was used to make the lettering for the unit's name in steel, and the forge was used to make the handrail. The use of old and new techniques turned out a finished product that was attractive and unique versus the prefabricated handrails available commercially.
"These projects and the knowledge give younger people, who are new to the trade, the capabilities of knowing what they can do with these skills, and it instills confidence in the work they accomplish," said Taylor.
The shop also fabricated a 40 feet by 60 feet dry-dock cradle for District Eleven 87-foot patrol boats. The Plasma CAM was used to precisely cut usable parts from raw sheets of steel up to 5/8 inches thick, including reinforced openings and hundreds of large gussets (triangular inserts), to provide structural stability for the cradle. The forge was used to heat and form the large complex pieces used for the reinforced openings, which is similar to how blacksmiths of old formed the outer portion of wagon wheels.
| ALAMEDA, Calif. (May 19, 2006) - Martin W. Taylor, a Weld Maintenance Leader with the Coast Guard Island Engineering Department and Metal Fabrication shop, stands at the bow of the 87-foot cutter Barracuda during dry dock. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer John Brummett) |
The shop has completed many other important jobs for operational units, including salt water foundations and 50-ton air conditioner salt water strainers for 378-foot cutters, sections of foundations for the Global Positioning System (GPS) towers recently erected in Hawaii and San Diego, shipboard ventilation systems, and parts for 378-foot cutters' main gas turbine exhaust ducting.
In her experience, Reagan says, "I am able to incorporate the artistic side of blacksmithing into my everyday work which helps me turn out a product that is much more aesthetically pleasing and professional. Learning about this history and then holding a hammer in my hand, while pounding red hot metal, links me with a thousand years of craftsmen and their accomplishments. I feel pride in being part of such an important trade."
The projects completed showed pride in the work they've accomplished, and it has sparked an interest in hopes that the knowledge learned will be shared and passed on for generations to come.
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