This series contains photographs of steelworkers and equipment detailing the steel casting process used for making large steel components for Liberty Ships constructed in Portland (Or.) area shipyards during World War II.
Supplemental descriptive information contributed in 2019 by Chris Horn, Facilities Director for Columbia Steel.
An employee using an electric swing frame grinder to clean skeg off a ship frame casting at Columbia Steel Casting Company. The caption at the bottom of the image reads, “Skeg being cleaned.”
An employee uses a prybar to remove the slag after an acetylene cutting torch has cut the riser steel-cast component at Columbia Steel Casting Company.
An unidentified employee Employee removes solidification gusset with an acetylene cutting torch from a ship hull casting at Columbia Steel Casting Company.
Unidentified molders at Columbia Steel Casting Company work under the cope of a mold. Molders use core nails to secure chills, the mold parting compound is visible (white at edge of mold cavity).
Two employees work on cleaning a casting at Columbia Steel Casting Company. One employee uses a cutting torch to remove rigging, and another uses a bar to hand chip off sand.
A view of the stern subassemblies for a Liberty Ship showing how the stern frames produced by Columbia Steel Casting Company were welded to the ship’s hull plates.