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Old 06-18-2016, 07:07 AM
Kabous Kabous is offline
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Default The largest metal shaping project ever?

As a non-US citizen, always thought Statue of Liberty was made up from thinly cast copper parts but found she was made from 300-odd copper sheets of 2.5mm which weighed 88 tons. Inner steel structure another 130 tons.

Some real complicated shapes in the folds of clothing around the raised upper arm. Must have been challenging to the French artisans. Buck making was all once-offs and piles of wood in the workshops attest to that.

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...-footage/217-4

http://www.statue-de-la-liberte.com/...of-Liberty.php
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Old 06-18-2016, 08:54 AM
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Kerry Pinkerton Kerry Pinkerton is offline
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Very interesting. Thanks for posting. Lots more to it than I had ever considered.
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Old 06-18-2016, 09:31 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kabous View Post
As a non-US citizen, always thought Statue of Liberty was made up from thinly cast copper parts but found she was made from 300-odd copper sheets of 2.5mm which weighed 88 tons. Inner steel structure another 130 tons.

Some real complicated shapes in the folds of clothing around the raised upper arm. Must have been challenging to the French artisans. Buck making was all once-offs and piles of wood in the workshops attest to that.

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...-footage/217-4

http://www.statue-de-la-liberte.com/...of-Liberty.php
I remember studying many of the images taken during the Statue restoration and thinking that Lee Iacocca's team really had their work laid out for them. My grandmother was born and raised on Long Island and would tell me of going up the stairs in the arm of the Statue, back when it was still possible to do so. Truly a marvel of shaped copper work - (and makes me think of the Collossus of Rhodes....)

One can only imagine the skills of the Gaget and Gauthier crews at the end of that job - Salute!
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Old 06-18-2016, 11:02 AM
Bluchip Bluchip is offline
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Here's another large copper project. I had never really thought how these were made before. I had assumed that by now, machines and hard tooling had taken over.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-35388272
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Old 06-19-2016, 11:25 AM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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The old ways still work. It doesnt have to be complicated because complicated isnt always better. Looking back is often 20/20, compared to the misty crystal ball of the future...

They used the plumb bob (or grid and pendant frame) method the Statue of Liberty enlargement and enlarged it in multiple steps to maintain accuracy to the smaller scale models. The plumb lines are more simple to use for model enlargement than trying to establish a calculated point of intersection with compasses. Plumb bobs are also one of the most simple and cheapest tools you can use. Cutting up a scale model to assist with direction of approach makes it a lot easier to manage measurement of draft. When you start with an accurate model that can be enlarged by a specifc standard factor- especially a whole numer- vs any fractional or long decimal string differential, that helps a lot. Walking off the new calculated value with a compass is still my preferred method.

Ive spent a lot of time studying these in-process images over the years because they pre-date much of the printed instructional material of the 20th century that many reference. Lots and lots of info there, very sophisticated even if it isnt seen as comparable to our "better" modern methods. Looking back is a good thing to do.

Thanks for posting. Very cool stuff.
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Old 06-20-2016, 05:29 AM
Oldnek Oldnek is offline
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You know what!. That is an incredible sculpture of mammoth proportions.....here in Oz, we don't know to much about her, lucky for the internet!
Think of how many hours have gone into her and the skills of the craftsman working on her.
Massive thumbs up for the guys who even thought about building her.

What a job.
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Old 06-20-2016, 11:17 AM
metal manny metal manny is offline
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Great post, Cobus.

I always knew that the statue was made from hand formed copper sheet, but didn't know how the sheet was beaten into scaled-up forms. Wonderful!
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Old 06-26-2016, 11:18 AM
leoitch leoitch is offline
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guys,
back when I was still in school (around 1998) learning copper raising from David Pimentel, I asked him why American metalsmiths couldn't do the restoration works themselves?

he said it's not because the Americans didn't have the skill but the job was too big for a single shop and the smiths' egos were too big to collaborate...no metalsmith who had the requisite skill was willing to play second fiddle to another smith.

and so the job went to the firm that originally built the lady.

that what he said.
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