Both cored and no-cored castings are available on the Herman Mold Master. Flask size of 34" x 44" allows a wide variety of castings configurations and combinations.
In 1945, three brothers returned from World War II with a desire to start their own company. In 1946, the Vestal brothers founded Vestal Manufacturing Company. From the very beginning, the company has operated a gray iron foundry and a steel fabrication plant in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Early products included wood heating, cooking appliances and a line of agricultural products such as seed boxes and soil pulverizers. In the mid '50s the company began to manufacture cast iron and steel building products for the single family home construction market.
In 1964, the business was sold and the company became a subsidiary of the Jim Walter Corporation based in Tampa, Florida. The company remained a part of Walter Industries until 2004. At that time, the company was purchased from Walter Industries in a management buyout that keeps this proud Sweetwater, Tennessee firm with local ownership. The commitment from ownership and management is to continue the highest quality standards set sixty years ago by the Vestal brothers.
Today the company has over 210,000 square feet of manufacturing space for its facility located on 50 acres in the Sweetwater Industrial Park. The company is the world's largest producer of cast iron dampers, cleanout doors, ash dumps and fireplace grates.
In the mid eightes, the company began to produce light-weight, non-traffic bearing municipal castings. Currently, the company produces one of the most complete lines of light weight municipal castings in the United States.
Vestal has never lost sight of the original goal of being an industry leader in product quality, product selection and customer service — all at competitive prices. Today Vestal products are shipped all across the United States and throughout Canada.
Left: Smaller castings are tumble blasted and cleaned with a Pangborn Roto-Blast. Right: Larger castings are hung on trees and sent through cabinet blaster for cleaning.
Why buy Vestal?
Delivery
(1) Vestal has always had an outstanding track record for meeting order schedules and ship dates as promised.
(2) Substantial savings in ordering, receiving, freight, and any other costs due to consolidations of steel bar and cast grates from a single source.
(3) Ability to handle unanticipated “RUSH” orders. Import grates have had a poor delivery record, especially during the last 90 days of a selling season, when most problems seem to occur and it’s too late to do anything about the problem.
(4) Import grates have a very unstable delivery record. In the past ten years, we have seen cast grate manufacturing shift from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.
Quality
(1) Vestal’s 300-ML Series is by far the best value you will find. Check the comparative weight with any of the comparable import units. Each pound difference of product means a substantial cost to manufacture. Cutting the weight also reduces the durability of the grate.
(2) Vestal’s 300-ML and J Series feature their patented molded leg design. This eliminates the need for assembly, thus reducing the chance of lost or missing parts. These grates are also nestable for shipping, warehousing, and displaying.
(3) The 300-ML, SF Series, J Series, and HL Series are 100% American-made using 100% U.S. materials. These grates have been unsuccessfully copied and reproduced abroad resulting in questionable and unreliable products.
(4) Check the quality and cleanliness of your casting. The quality of your casting is no better than the quality of your patterns. The vast majority of import cast grates are very roughcasting, highly inconsistent with little or no effort to clean off the “fins” by machine blasting.