They say in Cornwall if you hit a rock with your lawn mower, it will spark.” That’s crazy, because right down there in the Blue Mountains, there’s all the iron we would want. That flooded a lot of the mines and rather than pumping those mines out, they just went to other countries and it was cheaper than what we could mine it here.” But when that poor widow comes in for a new grate, you don't charge her.'"Ĭattail Foundry began in 1976 on the family farm, the same decade most of the local foundries closed. I'd offer to pay him, but Ed would always say, 'No, you don't have to pay me. "Ed would come to help us, coming by in his old red truck. Ben tracked Ed down and Ed showed Ben how to build his own furnace. By the time Ben made a pattern and returned, Ed's foundry was boarded up. When Ben visited Ed's foundry, Ed told him he needed a pattern to create a mold for the grate. After returning home, Ed decided to build his own furnace for casting iron. He didn’t want to serve in the military, but he had no choice.” During the war, Ed, serving as a non-combatant, saw a cupola furnace used for melting iron. So I went to visit a small foundry in Clay. “I wanted to find a cast iron grate for my steam engine. But we also want to obey the Ten Commandments, so we don't make graven images of living creatures, like cats or dogs."Īs Ben gives us a tour of the foundry, he tells us how Cattail Foundry was started. "We are thankful to be able to help so many people with their needs. We’re trying to help the smaller guys.” Customers with large orders are directed to bigger foundries, where parts can be produced by the thousands. But if it’s way big production, we aren’t into it. “We’re making brakes for Cass Railroad down in Virginia now.” Forty-eight of those little wheels!”Ĭattail Foundry has made cast iron parts for Strasburg Railroad, and steam engines all over the country. “Yesterday a guy came in and said he wants forty-eight of the wheels and the little components that hold the wheels that go in the window sash to let the window go up and down. “And this one,” Ben uses his hammer to tap the pattern he’s working on. I didn’t do nothing with it yet,” says Ben, pointing to wooden pattern propped up against a post. There’s hundreds and hundreds of different things. “You just never know- there’s just so much different stuff. In bronze and aluminum, there’s a lot of parts for old cars.” Cattail Foundry has made cast iron railings and steps for Washington D.C., paddles for ice cream freezers, and cast iron fences for historical graveyards. “We make cast-iron wheels and treadles for treadle sewing machines. But it turns out that’s only a small part of their business.īen works on a pattern as he explains what his foundry does. Inside the workshop is dim and filled with tools, buckets, patterns, and stacks of cast iron products.Īt Good’s Store, we sell cast iron quoits made by the foundry. Outside the countryside is beautiful with a sunny May day. Dorcas and I have just arrived to do another “Made in Lancaster County” interview, and this time we’re visiting a family-owned business that manufactures cast iron goods, as well as bronze and aluminum. He’s the know-it-all,” jokes Ben’s son, Emmanuel King. It’s Wednesday morning at the Cattail Foundry in Gordonville, PA, and the Amish grandfather and his family members are hard at work. A peacock cries, horses clop past, and Ben King’s hammer rings.
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