Savannah Technical College historic preservation students recently completed 35 cast metal spear points for the Smithsonian Institution.
Students in the advanced preservation skills class created spear-point replacements for damaged window grilles, originally installed in 1881 at the Smithsonian Institute’s Arts and Industries Building.
To create the spear points, the students made 14 sand molds, mixing sand with resins to harden the mold. They used a template made by Enberg Mold and Tool in Kingsland, poured the steel into molds at Carolina Metal Casting in Hardeeville, S.C., then removed extra metal from the pieces.
Finally students filed down the spear points and painted them with a rust inhibiting primer.
A Smithsonian representative who visited the Savannah campus last year for a stained-glass window workshop invited the college to help with the project.
“The historic preservation profession needs programs such as the one at Savannah Technical College that can train the next generation of crafts persons,” said Sharon C. Park, who’s involved with architectural history and historic preservation at the Smithsonian.
For information about historic preservation at Savannah Technical College, contact Steve Hartley at shartley@savannahtech.edu or 912-443-5864.