Creation.

This is coolbert:

"A visit to the workshops always makes a deep impression. At the forges hirsute men, stripped to the waist, move rapidly and methodically in front of the ovens. The bars of iron, heated to an exact temperature, are swallowed by the presses and molded into the desired shape in a second. The rough form of a shell, glowing bright red, and carrying on its flank the first identification marks, is then rolled towards the yard, like a beautiful but terrible toy, a friend of the graves. As soon as the shell has cooled enough, skillful hands take it, smooth and polish it, and finish it to perfection. But it was dangerous work, and the hospital had a steady stream of ‘work-wounded’ to deal with, some minor, some much more serious."

That manufacture of artillery shells not an easy task.

As was the topic of a much recent blog entry the machinery and investment in the process rather large.

See this You tube video from the perspective of British modern-day large-scale manufacture artillery shells.

"How artillery shells for the Army and forces around the world are made"

"For over a hundred years – the munitions for the British military has been manufactured in North East England."

"BAE Systems factory in Washington has been making shells for the forces over the last decade since the site at nearby Birtley closed."

"David Sivills-McCann has been to see how the site manufactures the tens of thousands of shells every year."

Read further of The Birtley Belgians imported highly skilled craftsman providing much needed labor as a response to the Shell Crisis of 1915.

coolbert.