Knight Foundry

Knight Foundry has two Cupola Furnaces for melting iron, the furnaces can be seen in the background of the old photo. The graphic shows a section view of a Cupola furnace and the parts that make up the furnace and how the iron and coke are charged into the furnace during melting operation. The bottom doors of the furnace are held up with a metal prop during operations and then knocked out at the end to allow unburnt coke and remaining metal to drop out. In the late 1800s and... early 1900s cupola melting was more of an art than a science. For instance a cupola operation book written in the 1910 gives this description of a wooden prop and it use... "Some older melters never use the iron prop, but measure and cut a new wood prop for their cupola every heat. Many of them are superstitious that they think the cupola would not melt without the new prop, and they would rather give up their jobs than try it. Such melters are not so plentiful now as they were 30 years ago, when we first began traveling as a melter through this country and Canada, but we find when visiting foundries there are still a few of them left."

Come see us on the 14th, a lot of things have changed since March............

Knight Foundry is reopening! Saturday, November 14. Get your tickets now - don't miss out. https://knightfoundry.com/sutter-creek-historic-site-events/ See you at the Foundry! #visitsuttercreek #amadorcounty

Yesterday we were putting some foundry flasks back in the Flask Yard for display...... We had to roll the cope over and then set it down on the drag for one large flask. We last used this flask in about 1994 to produce four large muller tires that weighed about 4000 pounds each. We will have a variety of flasks and flask components on display soon. The trunnions on the sides of some of the large flasks are used to roll the cope and drags over during molding. You will see a variety of large spreader bars and the rods that go with them hanging in the foundry room.

Our friends over at the Nevada Northern RR in Ely have a weekly "Whatsit" item from the shop or the yard.... We have lots of hammers around the Foundry and I found this one behind the cupola furnace this morning.... Its a small hammer, the head fits in the palm of your hand and someone has been using the handle end to drive or pack something, but WHAT? I an going to put it up on the air box of the small cupola and someday I will need it and then I will know what it is used for...... :)

Owner Herman Nelson - Knight Foundry Herman Nelson was from San Andreas and he owned the Foundry from 1955 to 1970..... His story is best told from newspaper articles from the 1950s.... Many Foundry workers of the day are mentioned...... During his time, in 1958, the Foundry produced a very large casting for Aerojet in Rancho Cordova........

Owner Carl W. Borgh - Knight Foundry We are working on posters for the owners of Knight Foundry, this photo of Carl on the Foundry crane is one of my favorites. The second photo was taken when the Foundry became a California Historic Landmark; Carl is with Wendell Boitano and Ernie Malatesta....... The Foundry information set gives the Foundry capabilities in the 70s, 80s and 90s....... Carl Borgh was working at Aero Jet in Rancho Cordova in the late 1960s and he was working ...on a side project of his own and he needed some cast car wheels for the project. He visited Knight Foundry to get the wheels and he found out that the owner had died and that the Foundry was for sale. He visited with the widow of Herman Nelson and eventually bought the foundry in 1970. Carl tells the story that he walked in and became the "Apprentice" of the crew to become a Pattern Maker, Foundryman and Machinist. During Carl's ownership the Foundry produced reproduction decorative cast iron for the California State Capital restoration project and iron work for Old Sacramento. See more

Blacksmithing at Knight Foundry and the last Blacksmith Charlie Gorman...... Knight Foundry always had a Blacksmith Shop as part of its operation to make forged parts to go with the cast and machined parts from the other side of the street.... A 1958 newspaper article tell us that Charlie Gorman of Sutter Creek was the last Blacksmith at the foundry and that he retired at age 90....... He worked at the Donnelly Foundry in Sutter Creek before coming over to Knight Foundry.... The first photo shows Charlie with the trip hammer in the shop in 1952, the second photo is Charlie at the right with other foundry/machine shop crew members in the 1930s and the last photo show blacksmiths at the left prior to 1900........

Did we mention that the beautiful sun face casting is part of our big October sale? Well, it is! https://ebay.com/itm/303736468834

We had an AMAZING Workday Wednesday yesterday..... we had a crew of 10 or 12 Here is a rough run down of what went on....... General cleanup around the site......A new video monitor and accessories was delivered.....Our new ladle was delivered from Stockton......New windows were put in on the south and west side of the machine shop......The front door of the machine shop was under repair......New stanchions are being built for the tour path......Clean up and planning for the ...Big Lathe area in the NMS...... Continued work and repairs in the NMS.......Cutting bricks for the small cupola repair........Rearranging and clean-up of the Flask Yard. The machine shop in the NMS was PACKED for lunch and my photos missed some of the Crowd..... I told Ron that we did not build it big enough..... And we had CAKE for dessert. THANKS GUYS THAT WAS AN AMAZING DAY........

Just added to the online gift shop: this magnificent Sun, cast in aluminum at Knight Foundry. 7.75 diameter, 2.75 lb, comes in silver or black. https://www.ebay.com/itm/303736468834 #knightfoundry #suttercreek #amadorcounty #homedecor #paperweight #wallhanging

Tapping out iron from the Cupola into the Ladle...... we hope to recreate this scene in the near future...... Our Volunteers are working hard to make it happen.... Stay Tuned......