[Bell Historians] Re: A trawl through the archive

[Carl S Zimmerman]

At 14:47 +0000 2005/05/31, Richard Offen wrote:
>Do Verdin normally buy their tuned bells from P & F, or do they cast
>and tune (other than with their mobile foundry - the health and safety
>implications of that little setup must be horrifying!) their own as
>well?

Until they constructed the mobile foundry, Verdin had always bought 
bells from P&F - they have never had a fixed foundry. The capacity 
of the mobile foundry is one bell in two days. I think they only 
produce a single size, about 250 lbs., for ceremonial purposes. So 
there's not much to worry about from a health viewpoint. They polish 
part of the exterior, but I don't think they tune these bells.

Verdin does have one or two vertical mills which can be used for 
retuning old bells up to about a ton, but I don't think they have 
anyone on their staff now who is capable of doing that properly. 
Richard M. (Rick) Watson was once head of their cast bell and 
carillon division, and developed a vast expertise in (re)tuning old 
American chimes. But he left Verdin several years ago to operate a 
foundry of his own in partnership with Bill Meeks. A couple of years 
ago, they acquired a second-hand vertical mill capable of handling 
bells up to about 72 inches diameter. For more information about 
their operation, see
http://www.chimemaster.com/bfoun.html
For information about their carillon and chimes work, see
http://www.gcna.org/data/IXfoundryMeeksWatson.html

Carl