"Duty" monument in bronze

Bruce Bump

Bruce Bump

Forum Owner-Moderator
I was privledged enough to be included in a bronze statue entitiled "Duty" and is now at Fort Riley Kansas. James Muir is the artist and Old School Foundry cast and assembled the monument. I made the sword blade. It is cut out and hand ground from a bar of 303 stainless steel and measures 1/2" x 2" x 48", has a fuller nearly the full length and double edged. Actually I've made two of these. The second monument entitled "Duty One" is going to the Phillipines.

I have a few in progress shots of the sword and the statue so come back soon.


Here is artist James Muir standing in front of "Duty"


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Beautifull monument and a true honor to have the opportunity to be involved in such an endeavor. Hopefully I'll get sent that way some day so that I can take a look at it in person.
 
I didnt get a picture of milling the grooves and cutting it out on the band saw but that took almost all day. Here is some shots after that:

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This is the wooden model that James provided:

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Wow, that's just awesome Bruce! What a cool project. I've always wondered how large bronzes were cast, never thought about them being cast in pieces and welded together. Makes perfect sense though. Thanks for sharing this cool stuff! I'll be thinking about this for days.
 
It takes skill from everybody involved, not just the artist. The original may be only about 3 feet tall and the crew points it up to make it huge. I cant see how that is done. I've seen the big one made of wax and James Muir on a ladder putting finishing touches on it. Its huge and perfect. It is then cut into bite size pieces and molds made for each piece of the puzzle. These molds are reusable thankfully. This is the 2nd one this size. Pretty amazing to this small town boy.
 
Definately Wow Bruce. Thats an amazing project to have taken part in. Your sword blade turned out absolutely great, which doesn't really supprise me. You've now got me thinking about swords again (started out my bladesmithing by trying a few, then set them aside due to the time consumption and additional challenges), which is not really a good thing, considering how busy I am right now, and what little shop time I get, lol. Your pictures just make it look too easy (though I know much better). Thanks, as always, for sharing your awesome projects.
 
My dad, as you know, was in the horse cavalry until it was decommissioned in the 40's. He was stationed at Fort Riley where he was trained. One of the big displays that had been up as you walked into the museum there had my dad riding
his horse across the Republican River (I think), along with a couple of other troops. He would have, I'm positive, loved to have seen this statue and your blade, Bruce. This is so cool Bruce!

Thanks for the post!
Dana
 
Dana Hackney said:
My dad, as you know, was in the horse cavalry until it was decommissioned in the 40's. He was stationed at Fort Riley where he was trained. One of the big displays that had been up as you walked into the museum there had my dad riding
his horse across the Republican River (I think), along with a couple of other troops. He would have, I'm positive, loved to have seen this statue and your blade, Bruce. This is so cool Bruce!

Thanks for the post!
Dana
Click to expand...

Dana, do you have any pictures of your Dad and the display? Was it a bronze and still there possibly? Would love to post a picture of him here.
 
Hi Bruce!

Sorry for the delay in replying to your question. I tried to login in yesterday afternoon but, for some reason, it did not like my username/password.

Anyhow, I don't have any digital photos. All mine are hard copies. I'll have to get the exact name and author of the book I'm referring to from my daughter. She has the book, as well as my Dad's uniform(riding pants) and riding boots.

These pics are very cool, Bruce. It takes a steady hand to be able to make those looooong bevels come out so uniform....and that junction of the grooves, bevels and ricasso is absolutely beautiful.

Dana
 
Thanks Dana. It was a bit challenging to grind 4 bevels that are 42" long. It was heavy to hold to the grinder that long too.
 
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