Journey to the Center of the Cutter Head 1

Behold, full frontal of the cutter head dredge Florida.

Many thanks to the crew for inviting us to see Florida up close, complete with great BBQ and thorough safety talks.  Here is one of three spare cutter heads, with a total of 52 teeth in each of the helical jaws.  Check out the tooth manufacturer’s site, ESCO.  Here’s another.

On the rig, including the head that’s busy chewing on serpentinite, over 200 teeth are mounted.

200 teeth are mounted.

The used tooth at left weighs 35 pounds.

On the hot seat, the driver studies a battery of split screen monitors and  more controls and indicators than on a space shuttle allow finessing

of this grind process safely anchored in the busy channel of the KVK, business as modeled by Zim Shanghai.

More next time.  Any more guesses on the price of these teeth?

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who is grateful to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock and the crew of Florida and Brazos River.