Reclaiming the Past

While any American History student could probably tell you that Theodore Roosevelt became the nation’s 26th president after William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, far fewer would know that Roosevelt learned of McKinley’s fate while vacationing at the Tahawus Club in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.

The storied 10,000-acre Tahawus Tract, from where Roosevelt embarked on his "Midnight Ride to the Presidency," was recently acquired by the state of New York. In an ongoing effort to preserve land for its environmental, recreational and historical value, the state has spent over $400 million in the past 10 years. That investment has led to the preservation of 400,000 acres of land.

In addition to its Roosevelt folklore, the Tahawus Tract was also home to one of the first iron ore mining operations in the United States. But the discovery of ore impurities and a spring flood that destroyed dams along the Hudson River forced the mining community to shut down in 1857. NL Industries, an industrial manufacturing company based in Dallas, revived the operation during World War II when it was realized that the ore impurity was actually titanium, which was useful for constructing wartime aircraft. But mining in Tahawus, N.Y., eventually ceased for good in 1991.

In May of 2003, NL Industries agreed to sell the property, which was then to be preserved as a historic district and parkland by the state of New York. NL Industries retained a small portion of the land until it could tear down its existing structures on the property.

NL Industries sought bids for a demolition project that would involve destroying and removing every last building on the site of the defunct iron ore facility. It was destined to be a large task for any contractor hired to do the job. Sabre Demolition Corp., a licensed demolition and environmental management contractor, whose corporate office is located in Avon, Ind., was the company tapped for the assignment. In January of 2005, Sabre was awarded a $2.3 million contract, and they began work on the site in April of 2005.

While the assigned task was large, the actual work to be done was sporadic. As a result, Sabre’s workload required as few as five employees at times. Heavier phases demanded more manpower, with 25 workers onsite when the project hit full force.

The geographical aspect of working at the remote site in the Adirondacks was somewhat of a logistical issue for Sabre, due to the fact that all the steel on the site needed to be cut down to prepared five-foot-long pieces and then transported off the property to steel mills for re-milling.

With about 6,000 tons of steel on the site, Sabre faced a formidable—but manageable—challenge. Still, the single cutting shear Sabre had available for the job was not going to be enough to handle the chore by itself.

"It’s a little larger job than normal," said Sabre vice president Steve Dixon. "We needed another shear to process and prepare the steel for loading out."

Founded in 1999, Sabre provides service throughout the northeast, mid-Atlantic and Midwest United States for both private and public sector clients. With a service area of national proportions, Sabre goes from town to town, from one scale of job to the next. And while the wide geographical range of service is certainly good for business, it sometimes becomes problematic when trying to forge new relationships with local equipment dealers.

Fortunately for Sabre, they have a working relationship with Olympic Supply Inc., a ground engagement tool and attachment distributor located in Chalfont, Pa. Although Olympic does not typically deal with customers outside of their local territory, they had an established relationship with Sabre from a previous job in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

"I think they gained a lot of trust in us on the Philadelphia project, when we supplied them with ground engagement tools and parts for their buckets and attachments," says Olympic salesman Brian Donahue. "We send them parts all over the country wherever they’re working now. They basically gave me the nod for their next hydraulic demolition attachment purchase."

When Sabre called Olympic looking for an attachment for the Tahawus job, Donahue suggested the new CC 3300 hydraulic attachment from Atlas Copco Construction Tools Inc., West Springfield, Mass. Designed for a variety of demolition projects, the CC 3300 is intended for carriers in the 30- to 50-metric ton weight class.

In May of 2005, the multi-jaw attachment was brought out to the jobsite. Olympic supplied plumbing for the attachment and a hydraulic kit for Sabre’s excavator for a two-week demonstration period. After the demonstration, Olympic put the attachment on a one-month rental. Sabre was pleased with the performance of the product and decided to purchase it. The unit was the first such model sold in the United States.

Two sets of jaws are available on the CC 3300. The universal jaws are used for pulverizing concrete and cutting rebar, and the steel-cutting jaws are used strictly for steel structure demolition. Sabre ordered the universal and steel-cutting jaw attachments since both steel and concrete structures are present on the property.

The stable cutter body of the attachment has two hydraulic cylinders with speed valves to minimize cycle times. A reduction in the time it takes for the jaws to open and close translates into improved job-site efficiency. A 360-degree hydraulic rotation unit contributes to the increased cycle speed. "It can basically give you three cuts of a steel beam compared to one cut with another attachment," says Donahue. "If you’re in a situation with a deadline, that really helps."

The production of the new attachment and its cutting shears allowed Sabre to process roughly 60 tons of steel per day on the jobsite. The actual procedure involves stacking up steel while a building is dismantled from top to bottom. When a large enough stockpile has accumulated, the focus turns to preparing the steel. Once prepared, six to eight truckloads of steel are hauled off the property on a daily basis.

Sabre found that the size of the multi-jaw unit provided the additional benefit of maneuverability. "Because it’s a little bit lighter unit, we’re able to mount it as a third member unit on the stick rather than as a second member on the boom," says Dixon. "That gives us a little bit longer reach."

The only thing that slowed down the job was an exceptionally harsh winter in the Adirondacks that forced Sabre to shut down production for three months. Dixon notes that Sabre resumed work and completed the Tahawus job in the summer of 2006. With a project of such duration, efficiency can’t be overstated.

Until the task was complete, the best equipment was needed to save valuable time on the job in the process. Says Dixon, "It’s doing the job that we asked it to—bottom line." While the CC 3300’s direct job is obviously to destroy and demolish, on this project it has the added privilege of helping to preserve part of American presidential history. C&DR