When this piece is in service it sits on a large dredging pump and sends methane gas away through a small chute. That gas comes out of dredging river and sea beds, and the hardfaced zones take a beating from mixed, pressured water and sand. The maker has laid a protective weld layer over exactly those zones.
The job took around 2.5 days in total. Old material was gouged off and the area built back up before the new runs went down. For the spots that are hard to reach, Lincoln Wearshield 420 rods were used, while the outside surfaces got Lastek wire. The beads follow diagonal, vertical and horizontal patterns, with dense overlapping and parallel lines across the surface, and the top edge of the curved section carries several built-up layers. The heat has tinted the metal blue and gold in places, which looks great.
What stands out to me is the layout itself. The design has been improved over years by watching which areas wear the most, and the current pattern was judged the best way so far. The switch away from Lastek 2400 rods also seems sensible in my view, since those rods took too long on a piece of this size, and the new wire from a local supplier reportedly runs nicely without cracking.
One thing still open: the exact Lastek wire number is thought to be 238, but the maker is not certain and it needs checking. And the real verdict waits until the part returns after months of sand wear to see how the new wire holds up.