This is the powar of TH-cam - never thought machine shop instructional videos would be of interest to a former cubicle dweller such as self, but damme if they aren’t fascinating. Mr. Rucker has an easy going style that informs and entertains. Enjoying each vid of his have watched, and verr impressed with someone who has a Phd in Agriculture Science AND extensive shop experience, learned as a hobby. Must admit, would not have guessed, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, indeed. But must say, Keith Rucker and Matthias Wandel, and their green machines - bleh...
Everyone has a favorite color. Makes me think of my Dad. Ever shovel, hammer, cleaned up tool etc. was bright RED. Even had a set of red winter coveralls that he wore when sled riding with my daughter and son 35-40 years ago and they called themselves " The Red Devils" they all wore red. Nice rebuild and video. Thanks, Ed K. Cleve. Oh.
The machines looking brilliant already a big difference, And the good Idea of using the Green on the machines in the shop when you are finished it will look uninformed and very smart. the shop Keith when you are finished will be the envy of many of us.
Vista Green. I worked in a shop that every machine in the plant was Vista Green. When the shop need to be cleaned up they would by 55 gallon barrels of that green to paint the machines.
Something you might like to try, WITH EXTREME CAUTION, is a product called gun wash. .Automobile painters use this to clean their guns. If this solvent is applied to a painted surface, the paint wrinkles and lifts in short order. Shop rags soaked in gun-wash will lift paint. I am going to paint my second Super 7 light green I am restoring a second Myford Super 7. This is my second Super 7 and it came with several thousand dollars of tooling. I may keep this second Myford set up with the extensive collet chuck and collets that came with it. I enjoy your videos.
Wow Keith that old lathe is starting to look a like a shiny new dime! Looks like you moved your wood working bench out to the wood shop and into the machine shop! Great video! You are a man of many talents!
You brought back memories for 1972 when I was working for Detroit Diesel dealer overhauling the two cycle diesels. You're Monarch green as you call it is the very same color Detroit Diesel used for the 53 and 72 series diesel engines.
Man there is a lot going on in that gear box, your right it actually looks nice in the green, it makes it look clean, it's cool seeing the insides and how these complicated machines work and it amazes me how they were able to make those gears work like they do without computers in the day, you really had to know your stuff
Don't mind the ones griefing you over the paint color Keith. x3 Its your machine, not theirs. I like it too! Lighter and shade and I think matches some too with the trees that are so plentiful in that region of Georgia. ^^ Sigh of relaxation and relief with the gears and shafts in the headstock looking the way they looked, so no need for heavy repairs in there. Those helical gears too, its gonna be a QUIET machine in use, another sign of how top tier Monarchs are.
Thank you Keith!!! I have been quietly and patiently awaiting the return to this machine. I am quite excited to see it done. That is my size of machine. :-)
Wery nice color i like it and i think the colors of the tags mast be a nice contrast on the lathe, and it's a wery nice new to see the first monarch on restoration and back to work, thanks a lot for sharing
Drive Screws Keith. Put a small sharp chisel up against the head of the drive screw and tap it to one side, then the same at 180 degrees. That normally works and saves levering under the plate.
After the 28" followed you home I was getting worried about this one, glad to see it in process. When you do the 28" the whole shop will be taking on a green hue. I vote for the authentic green. God speed.
Not a fan of green normally, but it suits these machines well. A fairly deep green, ligher blue, medium grey and all on matt black stands. Plus it IS your machine, so yes. Whatever colour you like. :)
Personally I'd end up going with the Kurt blue color, I just like blue and always have. But the green looks nice too, definitely gives it more personality? if thats the right word, just makes it look more lively I guess than the gray. But of course, most importantly, since its yours, in your shop, and you are the one who will be spending the most time looking at it, paint the color you want.
While I've not restored any lathes, I worked on a number of motorcycle transmissions that use a dog clutch arrangement that's very close to the gearbox in your lathe.. Based on the wear you may find that the transmission jumps out of that speed when under load.. If it does happen you should be able to re-cut the dogs if the gears are in good shape.
Hey Keith, it doesn't matter a 'Sierra Hotel India Tango' what other people think, as long as the colour suits you young man. Thanks for sharing. Kindest regards.
The green color is a classic color. Check out the John Saunders NYC CNC recent video on powder coating the information plates. It may work for you and a lot simpler to do than I thought possible.
Hi Keith Its your shop and your lathe. It should look just how you want it to look :-) Personally I like that shade of green very much too! As you have done on other machines, I do think a contrasting black or polished for the control handles really looks nice. regards vic
like watching your videos, I have a 1950 monarch model 60 the same rounding over on the dogs, everything else is in great shape. the instructions say to shift when the spindle is turning, drift is what they say I prefer to completely stop then rock to engage, but it is 67 years old, keep up the good video content and who cares if there is background noise thanks again ed
You might consider making a crows foot wedge/pry bar from a cheap putty knife or 5 way tool ground thin to no grind with two or three notches to remove the info plates from the machine. Like at 10:00 minutes. much easier than a blunt screwdriver. I sent you an email about the switch did you get it.
The US Navy did a study of colors for the interior of their nuclear subs. Green (don't know the shade) is the most restful color. If it's good for the Navy it should be good in the shop.
The Green looks great! My son has Snap on tool box not that far off in color! Would like to talk to you about my Cincinnati very old Horizontal mill. Line shaft old!
Yup, the bigger Monarch's look good in green, have to say though, I've seen some 10EE's on pinterest in metallic blue, red, purple and even orange ant they all looked pretty good too.
I can relate on your color choices Keith. I preferred a shade of green on engines I had long blocked. Got some ridicule but hey, they knew who did the rebuild , right? BTW my green was close to candy apple green LOL
Hi Keith, really enjoying this restoration, great job. I am currently restoring an old radial arm drill (36") and really having good fun. I started stripping back the paint at first but in alot of places coolant, oil etc had actaually penetrated the paint via chips etc and the paint and filler underneath had like a cancer..... so I have removed nearly all the filler now. Q1 is therefore, do I just use an auto filler again, I was amazed at how rough the cast part were and the amount of filler used to smooth it up and Q2 do you use a special paint with a hard finishing surface for your finish. When I restored my KRV2000 vertical Mill I used Galmet spray packs, about 3 coats and I am happy with the finish but it was expensive. many thanks, Gordon, AUS
Would you mind linking to the part number of the paint? Today's "rustoleum" type enamel just seems not durable enough for machines. Looking for higher quality but still done by hand.
Like Kermit said, "It's not easy being green." Keith, instead of using diesel or gasoline(which are both chemically dangerous) to clean parts, go to a local airport where they service jet aircraft. Sometimes you can get Jet-A from a DE-FUELED airplane. They may just give it to you. When they de-fuel an airplane, they tend not to re-fill aircraft with it. jet-A is, for all practical purposes, kerosene. Jon
still wanna know how much a foot for way grinding.should re read the comments in the vid where that question came up. good work green is is fine I always go for factory original you make great videos always entertaining thanks
Hi Keith, Lots of folks are asking what paint you used on your lathe. I'd like to know too. Looks like the same paint you used on the walls down low. LMK.
Hi Keith. Thanks for taking the time to make your great videos. I have a question and do not see how to contact you anywhere but in comments. I wrote the Vintagemachinery.org website but that did not garner a response. I want to know how to purchase one of the decimal charts like you had at the Bar Z Bash this year. Thanks in advance, Norm in AZ
Was cringing every time you worked on the plate removal, and later, the long gear held in by pins. For plate, maybe better to drill hole in pin and use screw extractor (then replace pin)? For the long gear, it was thicker than I imagined, so bending might be less of a problem than it first appeared. Somewhat a nail biter! :) Did you examine the drained oil, and later, the drained diesel fuel, for metal chips? I think this might be revealing as to the amount of wear. Absolutely love the glossy green. A pretty machine makes for a happy shop!
I'm concerned about that rounded section in the connector. Whilst it doesn't impede function, on a lathe i did some cleaning on, i believe that a section of the "hammered" metal fell off/broke off and fell right in the splines below it marking a few. Just an observation.
Also, green is pro and dirt proof. Harder to see smudges on it. Worst "color" would be black, or white. Which i have seen. Why would anyone paint their lathe white is beyond me, looked like a pigeon crap fest.
You can remove stubborn drive screws on fragile brass plates without any damage using the TIG welder. Lay a small piece of thin copper sheet with a hole the size of drive screw head to protect the plate and build up a small tit of 308 or 309ss weld. Grab it with small visegrips, rotate and pull up. Works every time. Love that color....Sunnen green. My 1945 War production Sidney 14 came with the same color.
Very true, except Keith has mentioned that he has yet to get a TIG unit for his shop. I've used that technique many times, with the addition that I have a small slide hammer that attaches to the vise grips for a little extra umph on the stubborn ones.
Hi Keith do you have a video where it shows how to check the ways, and if they are removable, how to send them out to be re-grinded? and or if they can be scraped straight again? I don't understand how a person cloud blue a flat surface up side down that weighs 6000lb?
That's where the camel-back straight edge that Kieth has raved about in previous videos comes in handy. Instead of moving the machine to the reference surface, you move the reference surface to the machine.
i can forsee a business making new ones for people with worn out/misssing plates, another section on the vintage machinery site for the plates dimensions and high quality scans to help people out
I've got a Nichols Hand Miller I just picked up that's gonna get that treatment on the tags once I get to that part in the restoration - they've got a couple of really pretty ones.
i can tell you, i had 1 1948 bsa bantam in green, and after finding some unfaded original paint , i went to get it matched, it turns out, it was a mixture of ww2 olive drab and white gloss, it came out nearly glossy, but not as shiny as real gloss paint, so these machines, many of them wartime machines were also using some similar pain which was produced in huge quantities and available long after the war
During the War years they used Green a lot for camouflage my guess would be they had too much green paint so much surplus they had to use it up on factory machines, many houses during the early 40's were green too lol
in the uk into the 80,s the uk had a massive surplus of olive drab paint, metal helmets and those metal and wire stretchers, the metal helmets were used as garden hanging baskets, as far as the stretchers go, the rumour is they meant to order 1million for the blitz, but someone wrote it as 10 million, but being metal they were infinitely reuseable, the surplus was sold and used as fencing materials on government buildings and seen into the 90s when they were knocking down the older buildings lets see if i can post a jpg 4.bp.blogspot.com/-J6osGHT9gog/Umu1fpHYVtI/AAAAAAAALJ4/m9w2A_ALveo/s1600/railings2.jpg ironically replacing iron railings taken down for help in the war effort for iron
As a long time English observer, I have found American do not favour green. I once had a magnificent 1974 Mercury station wagon woody. People in California went out of the way to say they hated the color. The British love green and use it for all sorts of things.
This is the powar of TH-cam - never thought machine shop instructional videos would be of interest to a former cubicle dweller such as self, but damme if they aren’t fascinating. Mr. Rucker has an easy going style that informs and entertains. Enjoying each vid of his have watched, and verr impressed with someone who has a Phd in Agriculture Science AND extensive shop experience, learned as a hobby. Must admit, would not have guessed, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, indeed.
But must say, Keith Rucker and Matthias Wandel, and their green machines - bleh...
Everyone has a favorite color. Makes me think of my Dad. Ever shovel, hammer, cleaned up tool etc. was bright RED. Even had a set of red winter coveralls that he wore when sled riding with my daughter and son 35-40 years ago and they called themselves " The Red Devils" they all wore red. Nice rebuild and video. Thanks, Ed K. Cleve. Oh.
The machines looking brilliant already a big difference, And the good Idea of using the Green on the machines in the shop when you are finished it will look uninformed and very smart. the shop Keith when you are finished will be the envy of many of us.
Nice almond green. It gives the Vintage character it deserves. Nice choice Keith
Agree completely
What kind/brand of paint did you use?
My dad worked for IBM Endicott, everything inside the building was painted that shade of green. They called it Watson green after the man
Vista Green. I worked in a shop that every machine in the plant was Vista Green. When the shop need to be cleaned up they would by 55 gallon barrels of that green to paint the machines.
Something you might like to try, WITH EXTREME CAUTION, is a product called gun wash. .Automobile painters use this to clean their guns. If this solvent is applied to a painted surface, the paint wrinkles and lifts in short order. Shop rags soaked in gun-wash will lift paint.
I am going to paint my second Super 7 light green
I am restoring a second Myford Super 7. This is my second Super 7 and it came with several thousand dollars of tooling. I may keep this second Myford set up with the extensive collet chuck and collets that came with it.
I enjoy your videos.
Wow Keith that old lathe is starting to look a like a shiny new dime! Looks like you moved your wood working bench out to the wood shop and into the machine shop! Great video! You are a man of many talents!
Keith, that machine looks very nice, I can not wait to see it running. nice job ,Doug
Love the theme music. Love videos like this. You encourage me to work on some garage projects as well. Thank you, Keith.
You brought back memories for 1972 when I was working for Detroit Diesel dealer overhauling the two cycle diesels. You're Monarch green as you call it is the very same color Detroit Diesel used for the 53 and 72 series diesel engines.
Man there is a lot going on in that gear box, your right it actually looks nice in the green, it makes it look clean, it's cool seeing the insides and how these complicated machines work and it amazes me how they were able to make those gears work like they do without computers in the day, you really had to know your stuff
Don't mind the ones griefing you over the paint color Keith. x3 Its your machine, not theirs. I like it too! Lighter and shade and I think matches some too with the trees that are so plentiful in that region of Georgia. ^^
Sigh of relaxation and relief with the gears and shafts in the headstock looking the way they looked, so no need for heavy repairs in there. Those helical gears too, its gonna be a QUIET machine in use, another sign of how top tier Monarchs are.
Thank you Keith!!! I have been quietly and patiently awaiting the return to this machine. I am quite excited to see it done. That is my size of machine. :-)
Green is perfect color for machinery
Looking great Kieth.
Glad to see this. I just recently purchased a 16x54 Model K.
Wery nice color i like it and i think the colors of the tags mast be a nice contrast on the lathe, and it's a wery nice new to see the first monarch on restoration and back to work, thanks a lot for sharing
Drive Screws Keith. Put a small sharp chisel up against the head of the drive screw and tap it to one side, then the same at 180 degrees. That normally works and saves levering under the plate.
After the 28" followed you home I was getting worried about this one, glad to see it in process. When you do the 28" the whole shop will be taking on a green hue. I vote for the authentic green. God speed.
I'll bet the green helps blend in with your green metal wall panel and makes the shop feel bigger too. Keith has some interior designer in him!
I was swallowed up by the green machine from 1969 - 1972.. I have been green ever since! Goorah!
Beauty!..you shocked me with the lathe painted, wasn't expecting that in the vid!
Not a fan of green normally, but it suits these machines well.
A fairly deep green, ligher blue, medium grey and all on matt black stands.
Plus it IS your machine, so yes. Whatever colour you like. :)
Always a relief finding good gears
Personally I'd end up going with the Kurt blue color, I just like blue and always have. But the green looks nice too, definitely gives it more personality? if thats the right word, just makes it look more lively I guess than the gray. But of course, most importantly, since its yours, in your shop, and you are the one who will be spending the most time looking at it, paint the color you want.
You can attach a magnet to the inside of the gear box to catch the metal particulates in the oil.
Great tip on getting the cover off the gearbox. I'm dealing with the same issue on my Model 60 Monarch. Will try your technique.
I like the vintage green too!
Looking very nice now. Love the green. Best wishes.
Love the green man.
She looks beautiful .... I can't wait to see her up and running.
Looking good. I just bought a lathe today. :)
Ahh , Love it Keith .. Green is my fav color ! Awesome update man ! Thumbs up..
Great paint colors
While I've not restored any lathes, I worked on a number of motorcycle transmissions that use a dog clutch arrangement that's very close to the gearbox in your lathe.. Based on the wear you may find that the transmission jumps out of that speed when under load.. If it does happen you should be able to re-cut the dogs if the gears are in good shape.
I once painted a bridgeport fire engine red.
Like the color, too. Gearbox seems to be in great condition! Greetings from Germany
Hey Keith, it doesn't matter a 'Sierra Hotel India Tango' what other people think, as long as the colour suits you young man. Thanks for sharing. Kindest regards.
Glad you like green. I'll send you a picture of my little green Maximat 7.
I like the Green paint choice!...🍁leif
Keith,
I like the green . . . it reminds me of money! Thanks for the video!
Have a good one!
Dave
Good stuff Keith!
The green color is a classic color. Check out the John Saunders NYC CNC recent video on powder coating the information plates. It may work for you and a lot simpler to do than I thought possible.
Looking real good! Nothing wrong with an atypical color on a lathe ;)
Practical Renaissance yep yours is pretty atypical but I like it
I've been wondering when this was going to come up! Thanks for putting out some great content!
Green is my favorit color too.
Looking good! Wish it were mine! I think it would look better in shop though. Keith you do very nice work, thank you!
Beautiful job. I was wondering if the original castings were coated with filler and then sanded smooth and then painted.
While the green is hideous, if that's what you want then that's all that really matters...Love your videos.
i just wish i had one at any color!
that reminds of the one in school same color.
Hi Keith
Its your shop and your lathe. It should look just how you want it to look :-) Personally I like that shade of green very much too! As you have done on other machines, I do think a contrasting black or polished for the control handles really looks nice.
regards
vic
The gearbox looks nice!
I love the color, great job on the lathe. Good to see it get some lovin.
like watching your videos, I have a 1950 monarch model 60 the same rounding over on the dogs, everything else is in great shape. the instructions say to shift when the spindle is turning, drift is what they say I prefer to completely stop then rock to engage, but it is 67 years old, keep up the good video content and who cares if there is background noise thanks again ed
A clean, mean, green, machine.
Keith , for what it's worth, I like your choice of colour. You have enough grey machines for the grey folks.
looks like this will be a great project!
You might consider making a crows foot wedge/pry bar from a cheap putty knife or 5 way tool ground thin to no grind with two or three notches to remove the info plates from the machine. Like at 10:00 minutes. much easier than a blunt screwdriver. I sent you an email about the switch did you get it.
The US Navy did a study of colors for the interior of their nuclear subs. Green (don't know the shade) is the most restful color. If it's good for the Navy it should be good in the shop.
The Green looks great! My son has Snap on tool box not that far off in color! Would like to talk to you about my Cincinnati very old Horizontal mill. Line shaft old!
THANK YOU...for sharing.
Yup, the bigger Monarch's look good in green, have to say though, I've seen some 10EE's on pinterest in metallic blue, red, purple and even orange ant they all looked pretty good too.
Mikeys Garage A 10EE would look gorgeous covered in hippo sh1t.
My arm still hurts a bit from that wire wheel where it jumped out of my hands and bit me
I can relate on your color choices Keith. I preferred a shade of green on engines I had long blocked. Got some ridicule but hey, they knew who did the rebuild , right? BTW my green was close to candy apple green LOL
What kinda paint and what is the name of the color. I really like the look.
i don't know what to say keith, it just looks cool.
Its your shop. If you like green, paint stuff green. Don't listen to anybody else. Follow your heart.
your machine your paint your time your in charge good video sound and all
Hi Keith, really enjoying this restoration, great job. I am currently restoring an old radial arm drill (36") and really having good fun. I started stripping back the paint at first but in alot of places coolant, oil etc had actaually penetrated the paint via chips etc and the paint and filler underneath had like a cancer..... so I have removed nearly all the filler now. Q1 is therefore, do I just use an auto filler again, I was amazed at how rough the cast part were and the amount of filler used to smooth it up and Q2 do you use a special paint with a hard finishing surface for your finish. When I restored my KRV2000 vertical Mill I used Galmet spray packs, about 3 coats and I am happy with the finish but it was expensive. many thanks, Gordon, AUS
I like the green.
You would love a Japanese facility. The machines are your favorite green. There are a few exceptions, but when repainted, it's green.
nice green color.
It's your shop. Paint it any color YOU like. 'Murica!
Looking good!
Wow Keith, you said 'queue' and not 'line'....way to go dude as I understand you say over there. ;-)
Hi Keith how is the band saw going looking forward to seeing that up and running regards from the UK.
You go through projects at a solid pace, is being able to make TH-cam comment the motivation, or have you always kept busy?
I love the green also!!.....🛶🍁
Would you mind linking to the part number of the paint? Today's "rustoleum" type enamel just seems not durable enough for machines. Looking for higher quality but still done by hand.
Like Kermit said, "It's not easy being green." Keith, instead of using diesel or gasoline(which are both chemically dangerous) to clean parts, go to a local airport where they service jet aircraft. Sometimes you can get Jet-A from a DE-FUELED airplane. They may just give it to you. When they de-fuel an airplane, they tend not to re-fill aircraft with it. jet-A is, for all practical purposes, kerosene. Jon
still wanna know how much a foot for way grinding.should re read the comments in the vid where that question came up. good work green is is fine I always go for factory original you make great videos always entertaining thanks
who doesn't like green? the more color in the shop the better, i would paint every machine different color just so they would be unique
Looking Good. A lot of work but it shows up Nice.
Hi Keith, Lots of folks are asking what paint you used on your lathe. I'd like to know too. Looks like the same paint you used on the walls down low. LMK.
I had to replace those brass shoes that move the gears on our Monarch.
I would love to spend sometime in your shop:)
Hi Keith. Thanks for taking the time to make your great videos. I have a question and do not see how to contact you anywhere but in comments. I wrote the Vintagemachinery.org website but that did not garner a response. I want to know how to purchase one of the decimal charts like you had at the Bar Z Bash this year.
Thanks in advance,
Norm in AZ
Was cringing every time you worked on the plate removal, and later, the long gear held in by pins. For plate, maybe better to drill hole in pin and use screw extractor (then replace pin)? For the long gear, it was thicker than I imagined, so bending might be less of a problem than it first appeared. Somewhat a nail biter! :)
Did you examine the drained oil, and later, the drained diesel fuel, for metal chips? I think this might be revealing as to the amount of wear.
Absolutely love the glossy green. A pretty machine makes for a happy shop!
Not that it matters, but I like the green color that you picked
I'm concerned about that rounded section in the connector. Whilst it doesn't impede function, on a lathe i did some cleaning on, i believe that a section of the "hammered" metal fell off/broke off and fell right in the splines below it marking a few. Just an observation.
Also, green is pro and dirt proof. Harder to see smudges on it. Worst "color" would be black, or white. Which i have seen. Why would anyone paint their lathe white is beyond me, looked like a pigeon crap fest.
You can remove stubborn drive screws on fragile brass plates without any damage using the TIG welder. Lay a small piece of thin copper sheet with a hole the size of drive screw head to protect the plate and build up a small tit of 308 or 309ss weld. Grab it with small visegrips, rotate and pull up. Works every time.
Love that color....Sunnen green. My 1945 War production Sidney 14 came with the same color.
Very true, except Keith has mentioned that he has yet to get a TIG unit for his shop. I've used that technique many times, with the addition that I have a small slide hammer that attaches to the vise grips for a little extra umph on the stubborn ones.
Hi Keith do you have a video where it shows how to check the ways, and if they are removable, how to send them out to be re-grinded? and or if they can be scraped straight again? I don't understand how a person cloud blue a flat surface up side down that weighs 6000lb?
That's where the camel-back straight edge that Kieth has raved about in previous videos comes in handy. Instead of moving the machine to the reference surface, you move the reference surface to the machine.
Thanks buddy, thats exactly the information I need! Got a new lathe (59 cinncinati traytop 15x54) and now I have right direction.
What type of paint did you use? Did you prime it first? I have a Monarch jointer that I need to refurbish.
Greens OK I like it!!!
Keith, have you seen John Saunder's recent video on data plates? Some interesting techniques there.
Rollie
i can forsee a business making new ones for people with worn out/misssing plates, another section on the vintage machinery site for the plates dimensions and high quality scans to help people out
I've got a Nichols Hand Miller I just picked up that's gonna get that treatment on the tags once I get to that part in the restoration - they've got a couple of really pretty ones.
There are folks doing that already.
I like your color choice. I look forward the see video of the machine up and running. Keep the vids coming.
great work - love that shade of green!
Why do all machines from a certain age have the same green finish?
....having a gently calming effect
That is why keith is so calm and relaxed
lg. j.
i can tell you, i had 1 1948 bsa bantam in green, and after finding some unfaded original paint , i went to get it matched, it turns out, it was a mixture of ww2 olive drab and white gloss, it came out nearly glossy, but not as shiny as real gloss paint, so these machines, many of them wartime machines were also using some similar pain which was produced in huge quantities and available long after the war
The manual says my Pratt and Whitney was originally painted National Machine Tool Builders gray. It looks green by now.
During the War years they used Green a lot for camouflage my guess would be they had too much green paint so much surplus they had to use it up on factory machines, many houses during the early 40's were green too lol
in the uk into the 80,s the uk had a massive surplus of olive drab paint, metal helmets and those metal and wire stretchers, the metal helmets were used as garden hanging baskets, as far as the stretchers go, the rumour is they meant to order 1million for the blitz, but someone wrote it as 10 million, but being metal they were infinitely reuseable, the surplus was sold and used as fencing materials on government buildings and seen into the 90s when they were knocking down the older buildings lets see if i can post a jpg 4.bp.blogspot.com/-J6osGHT9gog/Umu1fpHYVtI/AAAAAAAALJ4/m9w2A_ALveo/s1600/railings2.jpg ironically replacing iron railings taken down for help in the war effort for iron
Star Trek's Scotty said it best... "Ir's green!" - Montgomery Scott
As a long time English observer, I have found American do
not favour green. I once had a magnificent 1974 Mercury station wagon woody. People
in California went out of the way to say they hated the color. The British love
green and use it for all sorts of things.