I often wonder what type of person bent the tubing, poured the iron into the molds and laid their hands on what I’ve made a business out of the better part of my life. I often think there are few of us walking the earth that have really devoted their lives to iron beds ………. their construction originally then , and their restoration today. So it was very interesting for me to have come across a photo of a group of foundry employees. Even more interesting is that all the men in the photo had devoted 38 years of their lives in the same foundry making the same items……..day in and day out. Their faces tell the story better than anyone can of the hard work, craftsmanship and pride that must have gone in to every iron bed they ever made. I have a renewed respect and admiration for the iron beds that have come my way, that I’ve been able to recycle and put back in to use for a new generation. No…..I haven’t found a cure for Cancer, nor have I helped put a man on the moon. But funny as it may sound, I’m happy with the little part I’ve played in exposing a beautiful part of our history to current and hopefully future generations. As you run your had over the iron and feel the detailing on the castings that were poured in that foundry by men like these, think of all the lives their work have touched. Think of all the families that laid down at night after a hard days work, and of the families that were conceived, born, raised and even closed out the lives in them. If these iron beds we take for granted could talk……the tales they would tell. It’s hard to ignore the character that’s felt with them and the past they all had.
So my hat goes off to these men who probably never really gave a thought to the lives their work would touch for generations to come. Little did they know, how important the iron beds they would work on every day would quietly turn out to be.
