Phil. check out my website add the dot com to the signature.

www Metalrecipes -- heat and beat to the desired shape, repeat as necessary.
warren

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I am not a student, although I do work at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Currently I cut / polish stone to make silver jewelry. I wanted to try anticlastic forming so I got some copper to practice with. I love it!! It is such a great metal to work with. Now all I need is some guidance. I looked into a couple of schools but have made no decision yet.

I love the posts and have learned a great deal.
THANKS!!

Donna,

YOur wewb site has some interesting information on sand casting, but it is hard to read since the page is wider than the computer screen. This necessitates continual scrolling across as well as down, which is frustrating.

I would like to note that you advocate the use of metal crucibles for melting aluminum, a practice that I strongly discourage. Aluminum is, to some degree, a solvent for steel and will dissolve a steel crucible after a time. This could result in a catastrophic failure in use, a terribly dangerous thing. Good graphite or silicon carbide crucibles, while not cheap, are much cheaper than a prosthetic foot or a funeral!

I encourage anyone contemplating casting to read as much information as possible on the subject BEFORE trying it. Not all the information on the internet is accurate, and unsafe practices are shown on a number of sites. Only by reading all you can find will you be able to winnow the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

PROPER SAFETY GEAR IS A MUST! Molten metal, even low-melting alloys like pewter, can remove skin and meat in seconds. Molten aluminum, brass, bronze, etc, will remove everything down to the bone, and destroy the bone, too. PROPER SAFETY GEAR IS A MUST!

Rich Waugh
ArtMetal Moderator

This is our business, we know it well!
We have sold well over a thousand furnaces and twice as many crucibles(graphite, fire clay,silicon carbide and STEEL). You can use a steel crucible 40-50 times before it springs a leak and when it does it is a drip drip drip, you have time to pour your metal. Steel crucibles hold twice as much aluminum as the other crucibles.
We use the same items that we sell, they work great
All our foundrys go out with sand casting instruction, safty instructions and how to operate the furnace. Our foundrys are in colleges, universitys, high schools(atleast 30)across the United states and several other schools in other countrys. Our furnaces and crucibles are used in many companys includding LARGE Foundrys, heck we even ship them to our miltary men/women in Iraq. You seem to want to scare the crap out of people, when it comes to metal casting. Dang, we teach to disabled kids and adults and have been doing so for more than 10 yrs, we have been in the foundry business for almost 40 yrs. One our first metal casting classes we did was our local fire station crew, they inspected and then went on with class. A motorcycle club on the discovery channel uses our furnace and crucibles.
1200 foundrys sold and never heard anyone getting hurt. Our foundrys are sold in several mining supply stores in Cali, Nevada, Montana, if our product was not safe they would not sell them.
Molten metal is just like handling hot grease or boiling water. This is not for whimps or whiners! But kids are ok.
Go back and look at our satisfied customer links.
Donna

Donna,

You seem extremely defensive, as though I had attacked you or your business. I'm sorry you took it that way. I did, in fact, note that your site had interesting information, and the only thing I disagreed with was the use of steel crucibles. I still disagree with that, and always will. Simply because you haven't yet had a report of a catastrophic failure does not mean that it can't or won't happen.

Handling molten metal is a very far cry from handling boiling water or hot grease - look up photos of the injuries from molten metal sometime if you don't have a sensitive stomach. Molten metal does not merely make blisters, it removes skin, flesh and bone - almost instantly. To compare the safety of handling molten metal to that of boiling water is, at best, disingenuous. If you honestly think that having a very cautious approach to handling molten metal makes one a wimp or a whiner, you have a cavalier disregard for safety that I find rather disconcerting.

When graphite and silicon carbide crucibles are available and not unduly expensive, I think it is a false economy to use anything less. I will continue, as I have for more than 40 years, to advocate the use of only proper crucibles and safety equipment. I've been doing casting since 1968 and never had an injury, nor have my students, and I intend to maintain that safety record. As a moderator for this website, I feel it is incumbent on me to make every effort possible to see that the information on this site is accurate and promotes safe practices.

As I noted in my previous post, there is much information available on the 'net and users should peruse as much as possible in order to determine for themselves which is accurate or useful and which is not. In the final analysis, it is up to the individual to make his/her own decisions based upon the available information, and the more information obtained the better that decision is likely to be.

Regards,

Rich Waugh

Donna,

I would think you would welcome the advice given by Rich on your website and the safety issues he brings up. I suspect you would want to do all you could to keep your clientele safe and avoid possible litigation from someone who might suffer an injury.

I have a healthy respect for molten metal and use whatever caution I can when handling it. Even on a small scale it can cause burns.

Best,
Fred

Fred Zweig
Metalsmith

WE HAVE BEEN TEACHING METAL CASTING FOR OVER 10 YEARS, NEVER EVEN CLOSE TO A ACCIDENT.
In the FORTY YEARS we have been in this business, the worst accident we saw was my husbands friend getting ground up in the mueller and sent out in chunks on the sand conveyer belt. We teach to kids, we dont just teach them to mold sand and pour, we also teach them to use the equipment safely (the do's and dont's). How does this guy know we dont? Because he saw a picture of a customer pouring with shorts on. I cant control how my customers use our products, just like a Dr cant control there patient from misusing there pills, becoming a junkie and going out and killing people. We have been inspected for safety codes and passed.
I have a friend who was cooking in small diner when the grease exploded, just like that she has no hand and diner burnt down. Safety is a very big concern. Have you looked over our website? go look over our website www.foundry101.com
We are a learning website used in many schools around the WORLD!

Our foundries are in at least 30 colleges, high schools and universities in the UNITED STATES, would'nt they tell us if we were unsafe? They have actually used our equipment.

In our spare time we experiment, dumping molten metal into a wet molds, water, snow looking for potential danger. We over use our STEEL crucibles to see how long they will last and to see if they blow out with molten metal, what we found was the crucible drips, drip drip drip drip (I have time to pour my mold), NO SPLASH of molten metal all over me. If we are pouing brass or bronze the respirators go on as well as the leathers. I do believe that metal casting is very safe!

Once again, you attribute to me motives that I simply don't have. Unfortunately, I can't control your reactions to my interest in promoting safety, nor can I seem to get you to understand that I have not impugned the quality of your foundries or your supplies. Yes, you appear to have a myriad of satisfied customers. I think that speaks to the service and products you provide to your customers.

You repeatedly have exhorted me to go look at your website, something that I have already done. Did you think I would remark on your website without seeing it? How else would I know that your tutorial page does not auto-resize to fit the viewer's screen resolution?

You ask in your post, "How does this guy know we dont?" and then go on to answer, "Because he saw a picture of a customer pouring with shorts on." I don't know what picture you are referring to - I don't recall having seen that one actually, nor did I ever mention anything of the sort. I have only urged readers to utilize all proper safety equipment.

If I were going to refer to any of the pictures on your website, it would be the two on the first page of the website you have repeatedly provided. One picture would be the one at the top left, showing someone pouring metal while wearing jeans and sneakers, with the mold sitting on concrete. The other is farther down the page to the right, captioned "Pouring Brass", and shows the person pouring molten brass, again while wearing jeans and sneakers.

I presume these pictures depict you or members of your company (since no credits are provided), and you certainly have every right to any attire you choose while doing whatever you do. However, these pictures make your assertion, "If we are pouing brass or bronze the respirators go on as well as the leathers" seem a bit disingenuous.

You posted, "Safety is a very big concern. Have you looked over our website?" The answer to that is yes, I have, and I think you might want to re-think some of your choices of illustrations in favor of some that depict scenes more in keeping with best practices.

Once again, let me reassure you that I am *not* denigrating the products or service you provide. On the contrary, I commend you for promoting sand casting as a worthwhile and enjoyable endeavor and for providing how-to information. But if you continue to exhort me to look at your website, and/or attribute to me things I have never said, I will counter your arguments with demonstrable fact. Can we let this issue rest now?

Regards,

Rich Waugh