Tag: ironworker

An Ode to the Ironworker

I was looking through C Marshall Fabrication’s products on this website, and I have to admit, I was rather impressed by the ironworker machines. Forget even about what they can do: the name itself is pretty Old School tough-sounding. I just get the idea that if I was walking around with one, I wouldn’t have to worry about getting mugged in a dark alley. If I did actually run into any trouble, I could use my ironworker to shear, notch and punch holes into my enemy, assuming of course that my enemy was less than an inch thick. Quite a practical machine indeed, in addition to its cool name.

In an eager quest to find out more, I turned to my old friend Google and started searching the web for ironworkers. I wanted to find out what the original ironworker was, what it looked like, and where it came from.

Based on my extensive internet research into the subject, the predecessors to the modern ironworker machine originated from the northernmost parts of Europe, as early as 7000 BC. Although the original models were described as rather short and ugly, they were also associated with superior results in smithing, mining and crafting. The original word for these ironworkers was “dweorg”, which later became the word “dwarf”. A noble heritage indeed, steeped as it is in myth, mystery and even the supernatural!

What I found out next led me, quite frankly, to an uncomfortable impasse: a professional conflict of interest. For, although I never conceived of the possibility that C Marshall Fabrication isn’t offering the best of the best metal fabrication machinery available anywhere on the planet, I must confess in the name of being fair and balanced that Google did lead me to one ironworker with a very refined and unique feature that, quite frankly, the ones on C Marshall’s website do not offer. Sure, C Marshall’s ironworkers can shear, punch, notch and bend at least as well or better than any others on the market – but can they SING?

That’s right: I found an ironworker that can sing. So well, in fact, that Old Blue Eyes is getting a run for his money right now. Meet Gary Russo, a New York City ironworker on the 2nd Avenue subway line. On his lunch breaks, he sings Frank Sinatra songs to whoever might be walking down the street at the time. He’s so good that he has captured national attention, and his fan base is growing quickly. You can watch a YouTube video of one of his recent performances here: Singing Ironworker . He sounds so much like Frank Sinatra that some people have in fact questioned whether he’s just lip synching to the real Frank Sinatra voice (he isn’t).

So, although I am a mere spectator of the metal fabrication industry, I wonder if it would be too much to offer an ironworker on this website that can sing in addition to its other features. Based on the steadily increasing number of Gary Russo’s fan base, it might be just the thing that provides the ultimate competitive advantage. Of course, it might help if the ironworkers on C Marshall’s website looked a little more like Gary Russo too. I probably wouldn’t be the only female who finally breaks down and buys one.

-Anja Wulf