Thread started: Jul 28 2010, 5:58 PM EDT
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I cast this brass axe head back in high school. I carved the axe head out of wax, then made a sand mold, then poured the molten brass. The decoration was hand stamped into the head while it was hot. The same pattern is on both sides.
This is probably the best metal weapon I have ever made with my own two hands.
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RE: My weapon submission
By: ,
Jul 29 2010, 10:58 AM EDT
"Interesting axe Did you cast it with the eye already in it or put it in later? Little unusual to use a wax pattern for sand casting, usually wax patterns are used with slurry molds. Don't understand when you said you stamped the pattern in while the head was hot...ypu removed the head from the mold while it was still hot...didn't it cool down befor you did all that stamping ?...Looks to me the design was cast into the head. Why would you stamp designs into a head that was hot since brass is soft enough to be stamped when it is cool
" The negative space was part of the original cast...it was not added later. The sand we were using (and this was a long time ago...so I'm trying to remember exactly how it was made) was very fine I believe. The sand was packed around the wax shape and heated in a kiln to burn out the wax. The material was poured into the hot mold and allowed to cool...and then the mold was broken off. I'm pretty sure thats how it happened. I honestly can't remember if the design was etched into the wax shape or the metal cast. I seem to remeber hammering those designs into the metal axe head...but they could have been etched into the wax original. Stamping or etching cool metals is harder to do. If the metal is hot it is softer so you don't have to strick as hard which means that less mistakes are made. I found that the etching tool slipped more on cold materials. Heat the material and the tool seems to bite more. Like I said...you may be right. I made that thing more than 20 years ago...and my "memories" from high school are a little fuzzy these days.
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