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The Birth Of The Gracie Bell


dubthewonderscot

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Yep - the Gracie Bell is a beautiful thing to behold! I'm trying to decide how to finish it so it doesn't rust like everything else left in my unheated except when I'm out there garage gym. I'm thinking of burying it in salt but it would take a lot of salt. Or maybe paint the bells and just salt season the handle - not sure yet. Hopefully I can get Gracie to sign it for me someday when she learns to write :D .

Chris, when I was talking to the mechanics that welded my bell they said that if you put salt on the bell it would eat away at the metal until it was destroyed unless you sandblasted the salt away which would defeat the purpose. Anyone else have a relatively simple idea for finishing this bell? I'm not sure if I could manage your idea Weldon.

I've done the salt several times now with no trouble - you do have to wash it down really well but so far, so good. The ones I have done don't seem to keep rusting at all - actually just the opposite.

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Well

the first guy to ever lift the gracie bell I made for Chris came over to try to lift the 182 pounder......it didn't go. He did another lift of the Gracie Bell.

seen here

Kenny lifts the Gracie Bell

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Well

the first guy to ever lift the gracie bell I made for Chris came over to try to lift the 182 pounder......it didn't go. He did another lift of the Gracie Bell.

seen here

Kenny lifts the Gracie Bell

Well - he sure makes it look easier than when I do it - I am getting Gracie sometimes left handed now so I'm happy about that anyway. I'm thinking about drilling and tapping the ends of the bells so I can attach plates to work towards an actual Inch now. Either that or see if I can "borrow" Eatons Inch for a while (hint to John).

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Yep - the Gracie Bell is a beautiful thing to behold! I'm trying to decide how to finish it so it doesn't rust like everything else left in my unheated except when I'm out there garage gym. I'm thinking of burying it in salt but it would take a lot of salt. Or maybe paint the bells and just salt season the handle - not sure yet. Hopefully I can get Gracie to sign it for me someday when she learns to write :D .

Chris, when I was talking to the mechanics that welded my bell they said that if you put salt on the bell it would eat away at the metal until it was destroyed unless you sandblasted the salt away which would defeat the purpose. Anyone else have a relatively simple idea for finishing this bell? I'm not sure if I could manage your idea Weldon.

I've done the salt several times now with no trouble - you do have to wash it down really well but so far, so good. The ones I have done don't seem to keep rusting at all - actually just the opposite.

Ok, how much salt do I need and how long do you leave the bell in it?

I have yet to lift the bell with either hand but I'm sick and the only time I tried was a couple times with no warmup after having to carry that thing up stairs to get it into my house :D

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Dang it, those are SWEET! :yikes

I've been getting a hankering to make an inch replica, lately. I've got plenty of 2-3/8 handle material...but I'm missing the

weights (although maybe I'm just getting bogged down in the details ;)) Any idea what those bearings are from? A Euclid or something?

I'm way jealous. Been looking for ball bearings / cannon balls, etc of that size for a couple years with no success. All I've found is hollow spheres.

- Aaron

I live about 2 miles from the Wyoming monument...there's two cannons, each with about 5 unsecured cannon balls underneath...tempting :inno;)

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Dang it, those are SWEET! :yikes

I've been getting a hankering to make an inch replica, lately. I've got plenty of 2-3/8 handle material...but I'm missing the

weights (although maybe I'm just getting bogged down in the details ;)) Any idea what those bearings are from? A Euclid or something?

I'm way jealous. Been looking for ball bearings / cannon balls, etc of that size for a couple years with no success. All I've found is hollow spheres.

- Aaron

I live about 2 miles from the Wyoming monument...there's two cannons, each with about 5 unsecured cannon balls underneath...tempting :inno;)

Dude idk about cannon balls, if you drop the bell too hard there goes the house :D:laugh And yes the bells are sweet!!! Well worth the fortune I spent on it :D

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word of warning, canon balls are not something you want to weld. A guy here in virginia was killed a little while bike de-rusting a civil war era cannonball, it blew up taking him with it.

Speaking of de-rusting...and grinding...glad thats over.

Turns out the 182 had the nicest finish. They weren't pitted at all, good for you Mathison...bad for me, now i want to keep it. lol, jk.

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?autocom...si&img=8127

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  • 6 years later...

I'm pretty late to this thread but I have got to say these are pretty cool bells.

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You can check out the heaviest one on 3/4/2015 and see what you think. We also figured out it's a bit off-balanced, which adds another dimension of training.

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You can check out the heaviest one on 3/4/2015 and see what you think. We also figured out it's a bit off-balanced, which adds another dimension of training.

Has anyone lifted it?

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Yes. I have lifted it. I think Aaron Corcorran has lifted it too. It comes in at around 163# or so. It's hard to get an exact number, cuz it doesn't sit very well on my scale.

This was the first time I video'd the lift. I have gotten better, more level lifts since then.

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