Blast furnaces.

[melv]

After watching The Big melt on BBC4 last night, I was wondering if there were any blast furnaces actually situated in Sheffield. I can remember the ones in Renishaw, which were quite spectacular when they were tapped, as the pig iron used to flow into the moulds on the outside of the factory.

[trevorb]

There were two at park gate

[jwilliamson]

I worked there in 1964. They shipped the molten iron by rail to the steel plant at Aldwark where they used it to charge the two Kaldo furnaces. It was very impressive to see this happen. There is a blast furnace at Corus Redcar where you can get close enough to feel the heat and even get the smell. As an artist I have painted it many times. See john williamson on the 'artists and illustrators' web site.

[trevorb]

I have walked alongside the molten iron as we walked back to roundwood bar mill from parkgate in the cold weather many times. The kaldo's were replaced in the seventies with arc furnaces. The kaldo's were very impressive to watch, but not as entertaining as watching cobbles in a bar mill.

[Falls]

I have walked alongside the molten iron as we walked back to roundwood bar mill from parkgate in the cold weather many times. The kaldo's were replaced in the seventies with arc furnaces. The kaldo's were very impressive to watch, but not as entertaining as watching cobbles in a bar mill.

 

Cobbles in Bar/Rod Mills can be quite spectacular particularly if it is a relatively high speed mill rolling a small section that's decides to go up in the air and the mill bay isn't that high.

 

Having to cut "product" down that had wrapped itself around the roof steel or even the O/H crane was one of the most dangerous jobs around.

 

Regards

[Foundry]

Yes, another inaccuracy of this film, there have never been any blast furnaces in Sheffield, as the steel they showed being used in the Tyne Bridge would not have been produced in Sheffield as it would have been a low alloy constructional steel grade, probably made at Teesside or Consett.

[Jim Hardie]

Yes, another inaccuracy of this film, there have never been any blast furnaces in Sheffield, as the steel they showed being used in the Tyne Bridge would not have been produced in Sheffield as it would have been a low alloy constructional steel grade, probably made at Teesside or Consett.

 

In defence of the film makers, it was never claimed that all the footage was shot in Sheffield.

[Fogey]

My Dad is a steelworker and told me he used to clean the blast furnaces at Park Gate for extra money when they were shut down in the summer.

[trevorb]

My Dad is a steelworker and told me he used to clean the blast furnaces at Park Gate for extra money when they were shut down in the summer.

 

I was always under the impression that they did not shut down for the annual shutdowns.

 

There were two boiler houses near to the blast furnaces. When I first started working there I was shown the new boiler house (circa 1910). No idea how old the old one was!!

 

There was a bar mill on the site too. I watched the last bar rolled before it was shut down. To take the OHTC down, the end stops were taken off the tracks, the switches switched on in the cab and then the power put on.