Where Can I Get The Supplies To Make A Mold For Casting Iron Or Silver? I Don’t Like The Sandbox Method.?
I’ve seen on the internet where people use a pile of sand packed tightly to impress the object they want to cast and pour the molten metal into the hole in the sand. Even with fine sand, this does not produce the smoothest surfaces and sometimes the sand becomes embedded in the casting. I knew someone who cast pewter statues and he used this green foam-rubber looking stuff to make molds. Anybody know what I’m talking about?
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look up investment casting. You use a plaster/sand mix to embed an object. Usually the object is made out of wax. You have to burn the wax out before you can pour metal in. You also have to know how to attach a pouring cup, feeds, and vents. Look up “lost wax casting” for that.
Especially for silver you can look into using cuttlebone for casting. You can easily carve into the cuttlebone. Look up cuttlebone casting.
There is one kind of rubber which will withstand the heat of casting with pewter (though I forgot how it is called). Pewter, however, melts at much lower temperatures than silver or iron. The rubber is not suitable for use with any metals which have a higher melting point as pewter. Silver and iron both have a much higher melting point. There is no rubberlike material you can use with those metals.
In addition you can try resin bonded sand. If you paint it with graphite powder it will be smoother than without (mix graphite powder with rubbing alcohol to paint on).
Or take a class. Generally for learning metal casting this is by far the best you can do.