I used to think all old boilers were junk until I saw the ones at the power plant museum in St. Louis

I mean, I was there last month with my kid for a school thing, and they have this whole section on steam power. I walked past this massive Babcock & Wilcox boiler from like 1910, and the weld work on the seams was just perfect. Idk, it made me stop and really look. You could see the care, every bead was so even and clean, no undercut anywhere. It's not like the rushed patch jobs I sometimes see now. Maybe it's just me, but it changed how I see the old stuff we rip out. It wasn't all bad work back then, some of those guys were real artists with a torch. Has anyone else come across an old piece that made you respect the craft more?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_burns9d ago

Yeah, that old school craft is something else.

grantc809d ago

My buddy found his grandpa's old toolbox in the attic. The stuff in there is solid, like @grantnelson said. Felt like it could survive another hundred years easy.

grantnelson9d ago

It's true, they built things to last back then. Makes you wonder what we're leaving behind for people to find in a hundred years.