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A hard working video crew from the History Channel spent nearly twelve
hours filming at Knight Foundry on October 19th. The foundry will be featured
prominently in a show to air next summer as part of their quarterly series on
historic preservation. This program will focus on the preservation of historic
sites in the California gold country. On-screen talent Steve Thomas, formerly a
host of This Old House, was a lot of fun to work with. Steve noted that there is
great demand for custom cast iron in historic home restoration.
The crew was so impressed with what they saw, and so frustrated at only
scratching the surface, they said they would pitch the History Channel to do a
full length documentary. Andy Fahrenwald was tour guide and gave an
overview of Knight Foundry history. We also demonstrated the process of cast
iron production, showing all the stages of creating a finished bevel gear.
Foundry owner Richard Lyman, a skilled artisan in his own right,
demonstrated pattern making technique; Russ Johnson rammed up the mold
and Joe Harralson bored the shaft hole using our 1850 New Haven lathe.
Pouring iron will be exerpted from existing video tape. Quinton Johnson, Russ’
9 year old son, jumped in to help the production crew as apprentice grip and
general roustabout.
UPDATE 21 Jan 06
The show was excellent, and has been rebroadcast, though no
current broadcasts are scheduled. The episode is available on DVD
from the History Channel.
UPDATE 23 May 05.
The show, titled Gold Rush Ghost Towns will first air at 8PM PT on
Saturday, 28 May 05 and will be repeated at 9AM on Sunday 29
May 05. There is more information here. (Navigate to the TV
Schedule.)