Restoration of the five historic riveted truss bridges for the Calhoun County Historic Bridge Park required the repair and replication of bridge members, and the hot riveting process played a major role in this work. A Boyer field rivet hammer was used extensively for the repair and replication of these bridge members. Although all five bridges were shop-riveted and fabricated for field assembly with bridge pins and field bolts, the Boyer field-rivet hammer (historically used for field-riveting shop-riveted sections) adapted well for preservation work in the shop. On July 6th, 2021, Doug Ferrall (Calhoun County Parks Program Director) and Luke Siefken (Calhoun County Parks steward) attended a rivet demonstration at Lansing Community College’s West Campus, where they were introduced to the Boyer field rivet hammer and had an opportunity to drive rivets with the hammer. Ferrall has been promoting the preservation work done on the five historic riveted truss bridges in the Historic Bridge Park and educating the public on the value of this exceptional park, one of the few in the USA where rare historic metal truss bridges are exhibited.
