The Flagpole Project

Richard, is the Co. that made it still in business? If so they should be able to tell you anything you need to know.

They are still around.

samhill wrote:Richard, is the Co. that made it still in business? If so they should be able to tell you anything you need to know.

I think this it, says Setauket L.I., NY on the plate:

http://americanflagpole.com/about.php?view=history

American Flagpole Company, moved to Abingdon, Virginia in 1983 from Long Island, New York, manufacturing a complete line of aluminum, stainless steel and bronze flagpoles. Production moved into the existing facilities of Hapco Aluminum Pole Products, known as a major manufacturer of aluminum street light poles, traffic signal arms and mast arms and brackets for wooden utility poles.

If that's the case it's at least 30 years old. The homeowner bought the house in 2002 so he had no idea of any history behind it. Strange thing is this wasn't exactly nice house. Really strange spot for such a nice flagpole. I was trying to research it and I came across a Popular Mechanics article from about '73 that said they sold them in Sears. I'm guessing that is probably where it came from.

I have a flagpole story....
My father inlaw was a truck driver in philly. His deliveries took him past the place where the new phillies stadium is located now. There was a building there that was being torn down for the new stadium. He saw the 40ft pole and asked for it. The total length of the pole was 45'. The workers said he could have it. They carefully took it down and jack hammer all of the concrete off for him. The company he drove for, allowed him to use a tractor trailer on Labor day or Memorial day(I can not remember which) free of charge to take the pole to his house. He put new pulleys,hooks, and ropes on it. We hand dug a 5'x5'x5' hole and had a bunch of people and a long rope to pull the pole into place then hand mixed 80lb bags of concrete until the hole was full. A trench was dug for the underground wire so spot lights are on the flag all night.

Cool story o.c. My flag pole started it's history in Bucks Countyt Pa. I found it in a barn we were taking down in Doylestown about 40 yrs ago.She's galvanized & I have no idea who made her. I took it to Vt with me & then to Fla. & now here we all are in NYS for the past 15 yrs. She used to have a bronze eagle on the top but a few yrs ago, a hellish wind storn took her down & de-winged the eagle. But here she is & here is where she'll stay.

Pole is up, actually last week I put it up. The contractor was here last week pouring the footer for the new garage and I had the hole ready in case they had some concrete left which they did. Didn't get done polishing it though so I still have some work ahead of me. Hole is about 3 foot deep and almost 2 foot across. That sucker isn't going anywhere. We put about two inches of concrete in the hole then set the pole in and filled it up. We tied it off with some ratchet straps to some stakes in the ground, leveled it up and let it set. The sidewalk coming off the front patio is bad shape, I'm going to remove it and have it go around the pole, I'm also going to build a rock wall around similar to the one around the patio.

freetown fred wrote:She used to have a bronze eagle on the top but a few yrs ago, a hellish wind storn took her down & de-winged the eagle.

The base that connects to the poll is cracked on the one I have. I'm working on the eagle now, appears to be copper. I remembered a post here about using electrolysis.

6 gallons of water and about a cup of salt, I'm using an old 8 volt 1 amp transformer I had laying around. Finally found a use for old transformers!

Actually cleaning up pretty nice, started it yesterday afternoon and the paint peeled off real quick. I checked it periodically and started seeing some copper after about 8 hours. I was going to let it go overnight let it go overnight but my electrode which is spoon had disintegrated so it wasn't doing anything for presumably most of the night since it doesn't look any different.

It appears the eagle is soldered together with some pretty big welds. Doesn't look like it would look good just plain but I'll wait until I clean it it up before deciding what to do with it. If it looks bad I'm probably going to put a coat a of primer on it and paint it like a real eagle.

Here's what it looked like this morning, the part on the ball where you can see a lot of copper is where I tried cleaning it manually.

Looks good, Richard!

Yeah, nice job!

I thought about putting one up here, but I just don't have the time to dedicate to properly fly the stars n stripes. If I'm gonna fly it, I'm gonna fly it right - take it down in bad weather, keep it lit, etc.

SMITTY wrote: If I'm gonna fly it, I'm gonna fly it right - take it down in bad weather, keep it lit, etc.

I was going to put it out in the middle of the yard but ANYWHERE you dig you hit big rocks, we even have a lot of outcroppings. They took one out of the ground must be 4 tons. The only good place to put it out in the yard was near this big rock and it looked like I was going to have to jackhammer if I wanted to do that. So it's by the house, the good thing is I can use one of the flood lights for illumination. W'ere gont to change the one that are there so I'll probably do security type light that activates for the amount of light. My old man is going to be in charge of the flag.

Half this pile is rocks:

Richard S. wrote:The Old Man has been looking to get a flagpole but the good ones are expensive, even the cheesy ones are expensive.

My brother found one on Craiglist yesterday that was only on there for an hour, we went and looked at it last night and it's a real flagpole that you might find at government building or something like that. It's 20 feet high, all aluminum. Maybe 5 to 6 inches at the base and has this large American Eagle on the top. The Eagle might be brass or some other alloy but it's pretty grunged up and hard to tell. By the looks of the concrete base it must have been there for 40 years if not more.

Got it for $200 but we have to remove it ourselves. Todays project is to take the jackhammer to the concrete and get it here. I'll post some pictures when I have a chance.

Best part is the Old Man is on vacation, going to be a nice surprise if we can get it planted before he gets back.

Could of saved a lot of cash and work time

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... =flag+pole

There's always gotta be one--you coulda guy in the crowd.

Apples and oranges....... That's like saying I should of bought a Smart Car instead of a Shelby Cobra.

Shipping Weight: 9.62 lbs.

The top section (and only section) with the eagle probably weighs that much. Similar poles are in the $600 range. A replacement eagle cost more than that junk you linked too.

This pole probably sat where it was at for 30 or 40 years, I really have no idea. There is nothing wrong with it and it's going to sit where it's planted until someone digs it out of the ground.

That flag pole looks like a quality item. You will be proud of it when it is finished and flying the stars & stripes. Now for the 400 watt spot light...

Richard, that is a nice location for the flag pole, looks great there. I also have a ranch house and would do a flagpole with a light, the only problem is I have LARGE oak trees all around my house and would detract from it, except in the fall

offcoursey wrote:I have a flagpole story....
We hand dug a 5'x5'x5' hole and had a bunch of people and a long rope to pull the pole into place then hand mixed 80lb bags of concrete until the hole was full.

WOW, I would hate to guess how many bags that took, I remember their were trucks that would sell cement by the yard.

Someday, I bet I'll come across a new used Eagle