Back to some stair details. I had a Facebook plea over a year ago in a search for the newel post that was lost in the 50’s when the first elevator was installed. We were unsuccessful in that search, so we are in the process of making a new replica out of cast iron for the second position. Interesting fact: all those designs on the post are separate pieces, bolted on. The white check pieces are newly cast pieces; they were samples made as we evaluated the ability of the Virginia foundry to do this job. They are excellent. The blue checks are originals. What’s super interesting is they are made of lead not iron. You can see they are curved. The reason we believe that they were cast in lead was to allow the makers to cast them flat then bend them in place around the curved post. It’s very difficult to sand cast curved pieces, even today- let alone in 1886. (The original lead pieces weigh ~3.5lb the new iron pieces weigh ~2.5lb. I weighed them). There are countless details in this restoration process.
– Ben Carpenter, Perry County Commissioner
Originally posted to Facebook
