Page 20 - Abraham Lincoln Hearse Narrative

SECOND PROGRESS UPDATE ~ SEPTEMBER, 2014 ~ ERIC HOLLENBECK
This is the second in the series of updates from The Blue Ox Mill Veterans program
and the Lincoln Hearse project. It is now mid August and the students have completed their
summer program and they (and I) have a week off.
Beginner’s Luck it’s a wonderful thing;
without some success at the very start, climbing the
hill of failures would be far more difficult. As you
read in the last report, we got off to a great start
making the castings for the corner finials (the pieces
just under the columns). These were a four casting
buildup with a 105 degree rabbit in the backs to fit
the corners. I was under the impression that these
would be the most difficult castings we would be
making. Well, that didn’t quite hold true!
We next chose to make the four half finials
for the sides, which meant we had to rework the Here is the sample of the struggles
original corner patterns to be a centered half pattern. we were having.
Here is where our trouble started. It seemed we
would get one that was good and then four or five that were not good at all???
At this point we decided it must be our old sand so we set about making new “Green
Sand.” Our first try of 120 grit sand and Bentonite clay we couldn’t get to work at all, so
back to the wholesaler and got 90 grit sand and Bentonite clay that we accurately weighed
and mixed properly but now it seemed we couldn’t get our water proportions right and our
castings were not coming out any better!
It was here after 2 ½ weeks of battling the process that I finely had a brain storm,
“Maybe I should listen to my own advice!”
I have always told our high school students, “if you hit a point where the project is
spinning out of control, BAIL . Go have a cup of coffee or a Coke or take a walk, pet the dog,
whatever it takes for you to clear your mind and calm down, do it; because I guarantee that
staying there fighting it ain’t going to pull the plane out of the nose dive!” So we packed it in
and the boys and I took the day and went to the scrap yard to buy more aluminum.
The boys had never been to a scrap yard before and you could see it in their faces.
My, how things change in one lifetime. When I was growing up and we went

Andrew wondering, “Where am I?” Anthony & Eric carrying our Booty!

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