Boltless

I was in the back yard this afternoon and I heard “Oh SHIT!” coming from the garage. Loud and angry. Then I heard the rest. “I cracked the bell”. oh. oh.

Earlier in the day, we had decided that it would be better to fix the wobbly yoke before installing the bell into the car. It really was impossible to swing the bell and Norman wanted to fix it “once and for all”.

The big bolt that held the yoke to the bell and held the clapper inside was rusted and stuck to the bell. The other day, Norman had successfully used the acetylene torch to loosen the bolt that held the handle to the yoke. Apparently the torch is not too hot for steel, but it’s not too good for the iron. So…

As it turns out, the crack is very small, and it’s up near the top of the bell. It’s still as loud and unpleasant as it was before, so I am going ahead with it.

The best way to ring it at the moment is hit the upside down bell with the clapper.

On a positive note, the bolt is out.