Appreciation post: The old timer who showed me his trick for core box vents

I was working on a complex gear housing core at the old Midvale plant and had to choose between using the standard 1/8 inch vent wires or trying a different method. An older molder, Frank, saw me struggling and suggested using a bundle of three waxed shoelaces instead, saying they'd burn out cleaner in our oil sand. I tried it on the next pour and the core vented perfectly, with zero gas blows. Has anyone else used a non-standard venting trick that actually worked better than the usual tools?

3 comments

3 Comments

stellachen1mo agoTop Commenter

Read about a guy who used dry spaghetti for venting small cores, said it worked like a charm and just turned to ash. Always cool to hear about those old shop floor fixes that beat the fancy tools. Makes you wonder how many good tricks retired with the old guys.

mia_hart901mo ago

My grandpa swore by using a potato to pull a broken light bulb.

jenkins.reese1mo ago

Man, that story hits different. How many of those brilliant little fixes have we lost because nobody wrote them down? It's honestly kind of sad, that whole generation of hands-on knowledge just walking out the door. Makes you really value the Franks who are still around and willing to share. We gotta listen to those guys while we still can.