Casting Brass Furniture

[Paddlefoot]

Is there anyone on here who regularly casts their own furniture? I am just curious as to what sort of equipment and skill is required.

[jerrywh]

I have been casting my own for about 15 years. If you sand cast it is relatively cheap. I started sand casting and after two years went to investment casting. In my opinion it does not pay to do it unless you make one of a kind guns that will sell for double the money of ordinary ones at least.
  You can get set up for sand casting for less then $500.00 the most expensive items are the sand, the crucibles  and building the crucible furnace. Propane or natural gas is the way to go.
   Investment casting is  much more expensive and can cost $10,000 even if you make most of your own stuff. I made all my own stuff and it cost about $10,000.  If you bought it , it could cost at least $20,000. 
   You need a burnout furnace, A vacuum casting  table,  investment vacuum chamber, a high volume vacuum pump , A wax injector, Wax mold making equipment, silicone or epoxy mold making material etc. A table saw. and at least 6 flasks of different sizes preferably stainless steel. The investment cost about $150 to $200 for 100 lbs.  Also several sizes of tongs and some fire proof clothing with a face mask and a quench tank. The brass is expensive also. 
   Casting is not for the careless type person. It is a dangerous operation . Use all the protective clothing and keep fools away from your operation when working.   All BS is best done afterwards. Also need some good fire extinguisher's. Books and friendly advise, from experienced people only also.

[famouseagle]

There were some articles a couple of years ago in "Muzzle Blasts" by Eric Kettenberg that described the process he uses.

[David Veith]

I have to agree With Jerry on a lot of what he said. The biggest part is the learning curve in doing it. I have got into it a little cheaper than that (Sand) But have spent it in learning.  It helps a lot if you have the tooling to make burners. and so on. You mite look at Michael Porters book on Gas burners. Lots of good info. There is a lot of good and bad info on the net. Here  is a site that covers a lot of good info.
 http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/ as far as a forum
David Veith

[ironwolf]

  Check out www.backyardmetalcasting.com

[Steve Bookout]

I melt old brass candle sticks and such picked up at garage sales very cheaply and melt them in an 8 dollar crucible in my forge.  The drags and copes are made from wood and the sand is free blow sand from a spot the Maytag foundry used to obtain their green sand back in the 20s-40s.  I figure that it costs about five bucks for me to make two butt plates and two trigger guards.  Can't stress the safety enough.   I place plywood down on the floor of the smithy so if any molten brass does slop out of the crucible, no shrapnel is created from the explosion resulting from the super hot metal driving the moisture out of the concrete floor and injuring anyone (namely me) .  I do suggest that you study up on the process before attempting.  Cheers,  Bookie

[David Rase]

Paddlefoot, Here is a link to a great supply house that caters to the small backyard caster.  They sell yellow brass ingots, crucibles, etc.  http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/
DMR

[AndyThomas]

Too bad you're so far away, we're going to be doing some sand casting Sunday morning at the Martin's Station gun shop.

Two good videos to get are "The Gunsmith of Williamsburg" and the one American Pioneer Video has of Terry Leeper doing same casting. These will show you what's involved.

Since MS is an 18th century gunshop, we are using pretty much the tecnique shown in the Williamsburg video.

We've gotten better service from Graphite crucibles than any others.

We're still trying to figure it all out; how hot to get the brass, how wet to get the sand, how hard to pack the sand, etc, etc.

Good luck,
Andy

[Paddlefoot]

Thanks to all. This is something I have been kicking around for the new place in GA. Trying to be sure I plan for everything I might like to do in a shop. My great grandfather had an outbuilding with a forge on the farm but it is mostly all decayed away and it's on my uncle's property anyway.