N55 Coffee Table architectural salvage industrial U.S. Steel vintage foundry Pattern repurposed
Yellow pine. @ 45 LB
As is my norm I leave the patina intact. I have sanded where needed and clear coated this piece.
These foundry patterns I use in my work were recovered from the Pattern Storage building in the U.S. Steel works in Johnstown, Pa.. The building was demolished in 2018 with most of the steel mill.
Though these patterns represent the mass and heft of the steel industry, they are surprisingly light since they are constructed from yellow pine.
Note: Delivery costs in route to the Washington DC area from Johnstown, Pa are very reasonable when we have a run.
Free pick up in Johnstown, Pa.
Over the years with Westinghouse, I salvaged a large inventory of painted patterns from my customers at US Steel and also natural wood patterns from Bethlehem Steel. We had both mills here in Johnstown. If you would like a pattern in the raw to use as decor or to create furniture or sculpture, we have many to choose from. They range in size from the size of a pop can to a rowboat.
Interior designers, architects, makers & builders can easily spend a day perusing the inventory.
I discount for quantity.
Along with the foundry patterns, I collected original photos of the plant and its products, and employees, plant documents and catalogs of the machines and rail cars the that patterns were used to build.
Dr. Zaborowski with the Digital Public Library of America has been working tirelessly to digitize much of the ephemera for posterity. So, if you like further connection to these works, visit: https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Aacacc-jsic
In its' heyday, USS Johnstown Works employed @1400+ workers. The engineers designed and drew the plans along with a pool of draftsmen. They melted iron ore, converted it to steel, shaped it, rolled it. Expert carpenters made the wood patterns for the foundry pieces they poured. Then skilled steelworkers fabricated and assembled machines, industrial railroad and minecars. They shipped the final products to sister US Steel plants and third-party customers in Pittsburgh, nationally and worldwide.
When the jobs went overseas, they left their clothes, gear, old spice and girly calendars in their lockers and walked away from their family sustaining jobs. I have attached photos that roughly parallels the sequence of events that the drawing subject followed. Some I shot & some are vintage that I purchased. I spent 16 years servicing the mills and mines as a Westinghouse representative. The last 4 photos are me in my time on the job and later salvaging remnants of my customers as they faded into rustbelt brownfields.
Along with the patterns I recovered documents and mechanical drawings and photos from the mill.
These are remnants of Big Steel that remind us why the Pittsburgh football team is called STEELERS!
United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in Central Europe. The company produces and sells steel products, including flat-rolled and tubular products for customers in industries across automotive, construction, consumer, electrical, industrial equipment, distribution, and energy. Operations also include iron ore and coke production facilities.[2]
Once the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world, (after the Mafia re: The Godfather Part II) It was the eighth-largest steel producer in the world in 2008. By 2022, the company was the world's 24th-largest steel producer and the second-largest in the United States behind Nucor Corporation. Though renamed USX Corporation in 1986, the company was renamed United States Steel in 2001 after spinning off its energy business, including Marathon Oil, and other assets, from its core steel concern.
Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, US Steel is set to be acquired by Nippon Steel, Japan's largest steel producing company, for US $14.1 billion. The deal, announced in mid-December 2023, retains US Steel's name and headquarters in Pittsburgh.
