Page 26 - Abraham Lincoln Hearse Narrative

FOURTH PROGRESS UPDATE ~ DECEMBER, 2014 ~ ERIC HOLLENBECK
the cope has 50 pounds of wet
sand by itself and suddenly
you have to find a way to
support the sand as you split
the cope and drag. Yet they are
doing it with no complaints.
Frustrations, you ask? Yes,
but NO COMPLAINTS ~ even
though as of this writing they
have had one success and 12
failures with that particular
pattern! You guys are great!!!

Because we are making Tyrone, Cody, Clint, Kenny and Phyllis and others have spent
VERY elaborate castings, way hours sanding and finishing each and every casting.
beyond our expertise, each
casting needs some “cleaning up”. Here is where Clint, Phyllis and Kenny (non- veterans, but
key members of The Blue Ox team) come into play. They make everything beautiful. We found
that after cleaning up and sanding the raw castings we could finish off the bubbles, bonks and
“owies” with bondo ~ and the gold and silver leaf will adhere fine. So enter stage left Tyrone,
Cody, Clint, Kenny and Phyllis.
Then on the body and wood working we have Cody, Tyrone, Anthony and Sean. They
are the floaters that do everything they are asked to do.
From the beginning build they were doing rough framing construction where everything
is measured to the nearest sixteenth. They are now graduating into finish carpentry where
everything is measured to which side of a fine pencil line you cut on, and each detail is critical.
This is a long jump for anyone and they are rising to the occasion.
By the way, sanding hasn’t even started yet, gang! ~ We are going to have to buy four
more sanders and this place is going to sound like a bee’s nest for a while….. Just saying!!!
Thanks to a monetary donation for the project from Caroline (Bebe) Rees, Viviana’s
cousin (and niece of former Illinois State Senator Thomas Rees!), as well as part of the proceeds
from our Halloween fundraiser, The Haunted Mill Tour, we were able to put our full crew on the
project for the last few weeks. Cesar
and Alfonso, our highly talented
craftsmen, with a combined sixty-
five years of experience, have been
a huge help for me. Cesar Murillo
worked on finishing the skirt and
building the two arched top rear
doors, and Enrique Ayala, who
is also our machinist, solved the
problem of securing the six piece
24” buildup of finial castings
Tyrone, Eric, Alfonso & Cesar confer on how to fit the “finial together mechanically so we don’t
fence” onto the hearse.
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