In order for the pour to flow in the bed , you have to have pressure forcing the flow into the bed ..
One way of creating that pressure is to create a dam/ reservoir above the bed . The result is that the liquid creates weight . This weight creates pressure on the pour below it , forcing it into the bed .
Myself , I seldom do pours for inlays . You get a much nicer job and its a lot quicker to just do an inlay . But there are some cases where I have poured right to the stock . Mostly for nose caps , Tang inlays .
First :I don’t under cut . The reason for that is that the pour will need to be filed down . Ifthe pour did not fully flow tightly into the under cut , when you file and clean things up , you will find a hole .
Instead what I do is use a couple small large head pins in the bottom of the bed , just off the bottom of the bed , Or drill a couple interlocking holes .
Second : I take a pencil and coat the sides and any small areas with the carbon / lead . This helps the pour flow more easily into the small areas .
Third : I let the detail of the bed , dictate the size of the reservoir. The greater the detail , the larger the reservoir. For higher fine detail or when I am doing a pour that’s around another material , like Brass , I’ll sometimes make the reservoir large enough to hold 2-3 times what’s needed to fill the bed
.In doing so you actually can get very fine detail .
So lets say im doing a pewter inlay around a tang to hide
? Well in this case an issue “?
“on a cheep pistol .
Ill draw my design . Carve out the bed . Then using a piece of cardboard card stock , tape it a tightly to the stock so as to make a cup that will hold the pour to the tang area . While at the same time , creating a reservoir. It must be tight so that it will not leak .
In this cae the photo is of a nose cap pour , but it’s the same for a tang . Just picture the resulting cup looking more like a swallow/ birds nest built against a wall .
With the barrel and tang in place , I then pour the pewter into the cup . Tell full . Once cool I remove the cardboard. Then clean up the inlay by filing and sanding it to shape .
With alittle practice and a mind to keeping the needed weight/ pressure , so as to force the pour into the small shape details , one can actually cast smaller , finer shapes right on the stock .
As I said in the beginning , I don’t do this much . Its a lot harder to do and do right then just inletting a something into the wood
