Working with pewter next episode.

Pewter casting is easy but working with the material is easy and tricky.

I used tin for electronics. This is pewter with resin core. During melting it smells unpleasant and I don't know if that's healthy! I used this because that was in our garage for recycling.

My first mistake. It's a very small object and I had to file it in shape. There was only the pouring hole I could use for handling the blade during file operatio. So next time I have to create  a new mold. The pouring hole has to be a bit smaller at the blade side and the blade should be little longer so I can handle it better.

I had to file my nails so I start to file the blade.

Pewter is a very soft material so during file it gets hotter. The blade became soft and started to bend.
You have to cool it down during file. It is a very small item so heat spread easily.

Because pewter is soft you can cut it easily. I used this nippers to let it look very professional but you can use a pair of scissors.

Before cutting the pouring hole I had to decide which razor I would use. With the pouring hole still present I can handle the little thing. Should the razor be a bead from http://www.bindelsornaments.nl or one of wood. I decided that the bead was perfect.
Next problem. I should have made the blade longer. There is a too small part to glue the bead.

The glue has to dry for 24 hours. I put the knife into oasis to dry.

After drying I cut off the pouring hole. I could use the razor to file the part of the pouring hole.

Pffff......Jezus......You already guess ???

Yes during this process the blade decided to take another position and the razor decided to leave the blade.

Prototype.

End result.

My son came over and I proudly presented my knife. He put on his most serious face and said : "What is the difference between an iron wire and pewter?"
ROFL.

Okay I have to make a new mold and start all over again. Now I know how the material reacts. I also learned from the mistakes I made so maybe next time I can present a perfect knife.

So I'm off to make a new mold and melt the used pewter again. This time the pewter won't smell as terrible as the first time because the resin is evaporated ???? I wonder.

Have a nice weekend with a lot of fun.

Pewter casting next episode.

It amazes me that people are interested in my experiments and tampering.
First a warm welcome to my new followers and my excuses for the blog owners which I do follow.
I've read your blogs but couldn't find the energy to comment.

Here some updates about what I'm doing. First I spend a lot of time searching my mold for pewter casting. Then I realized I did throw that away because I made some mistakes in the mold.
I decided to make a mold just for the experiment.

I make a line in the plaster piece so I can break it into little pieces. For my experiment I need two pieces of plaster.

In the front you see a locking pliers next a clamp and then the white piece is the mold with two little red clamps. The red clamps compresses the mold together.
I used the locking pliers and clamp just for safety during the casting job. I don't like hot pewter on my hands or fingers.

Heating the top of the "saucepan".

The pewter is melted. I heated the top of the "saucepan" because when the top is cooled down your pewter cools down during casting process.

You only need a little amount of pewter but during the casting process it did overflow. Leave it there till it's cooled down.

DRUMS ....

More drums .... excitement reaches its peak.

Tadada.....is that all ....... you're thinking.    YES.
I had to convince my husband that this would work.
When your mold is perfect you can reuse it over and over. By the way the pewter also, just in the pan and melt.

The left is the mold and the right is the flat mold just to put pressure during casting process. When you don't like a flat item you can also make a mold on the right side. But this one only has a pouring hole.

There are two slots in the left mold. Make sure the slots goes upwards. These are made to release the air. During pouring the pewter, the air has to get out somewhere !!

As you can see the pewter stopped at the release beginning. Now you have to cut off the pouring hole of your item.
I could use this one as a knife. Lets see how sanding works out on pewter.
Next time I try a scissors. I have to carve very precisely because you see every detail in pewter.

I'm glad I was able to convince my husband and some of my readers also I hope.