Harry Evans, a third-generation metal founder, talks about his craft and his heritage in an interview by Ralph Rinzler.

"It was the iron, I guess, and the glow and the white-heated iron--pouring it in all these molds. It was sort of a magical thing--to see all these piles of sand, literally like so many statues--pour all this liquid iron in and a few minutes later take out a casting that could be used. Just continued to fascinate me.

"I went to school in St. Michael's--we were only just a block or two away from the foundry--I'd go by and see the steam coming out of the windows; that meant that he had just poured and they were shaking the ...