The Home Machinist!

It must be one of those things old people talk about, like "LP records" and "stores."

What used to be called Steel Mills in the US are now called "Still Mills", aka huge abandoned buildings...

BadDog wrote: ↑Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:28 pm What used to be called Steel Mills in the US are now called "Still Mills", aka huge abandoned buildings...

Interesting that the USA manages to be the world's fourth largest steel producer and twelfth largest exporter with no steel mills...

Sorry, I didn't mean all, and it was really just a cheap play on words/pun.

But beyond that, my impression is that most of the vast production capacity we once had is now derelict. A friend of mine, something of an amateur industrial/military historian, was recently back east visiting family, and I don't recall the name of the place, but he toured, took pictures, and described an old production facility that comprised several miles along a river complete with it's own massive ports and rail system serving the many huge buildings. I don't recall if he said all or most of the capacity had been mothballed and was wasting away, but the pics and description left an impression. I feel like it's a name I should recall, but can't right now. Anyway, the impression was that it was much like US Automotive and other production might of the past, still breathing, but far from healthy or sufficient for our needs. But again, my comment was not intended to be taken as authoritative, at most maybe a vague confidence in an opinion.

We produce lots of steel. About half as much as we did in 1973!

A lot of the old steel mills were obsolete long before they were mothballed. We did Europe sort of a favor by bombing their steel mills in WW II as then they had to upgrade them. Our new mills make much better steel and more efficiently but the European mills got way ahead of us because the old mills of ours were just kept running well beyond when they should have been replaced.

Russ writes:
> ...my impression is that most of the vast production capacity we once had is now derelict.

And obsolete. The entire complex was developed to exploit high-grade ore from the Iron Range. That high-grade ore is gone.

Nucor has a mill in Gary, though. Not surprising: scrap is probably really cheap in that area.

When I worked there They had 8 Basic Oxygen furnaces working 24-7,producing 300 tons each every 8 hours. The place had 4 more furnaces idle because they were in another county, in the same building. Did not want to pay another tax. Now 1 furnace producing the same 300 tons 24-7 and they said it is 1/4 of America's production. There were at least 2-3 more mills like them in Pittsburgh,none there now. The night sky was red for about 1/4 way around from the coke ovens glowing all around the clock.

mcostello writes:
> Now 1 furnace producing the same 300 tons 24-7 and they said it is 1/4 of America's production.

That's about 110,000 tons per year. In 2014 the USA produced 88,000,000 tons of steel.

Niles started in Cincinnati and later moved to Hamilton, OH.

LeBlond reportedly made a big gun lathe in the run up to WW II about a half mile from my home; story is they shipped it out by rail in the middle of the night.