Brass Casting and All About the Brass Foundry in your Backyard
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008Brass is a great metal to cast with as it can provide some really great looking results. Many believe that brass, an alloy of zinc and copper, has been around since our prehistoric ancestors. Penny’s are made of brass, but they aren’t the only things that brass makes up today as the majority of the musical instruments you see are made of brass.
The low melting point makes brass a really great material for metal casting since even the smaller home grown furnaces can be used. By adding and subtracting alloys from bronze one can successfully make hard or soft bronzes. Aluminum and tin are sometimes added to bronze to create a layer that is not corrosive and very durable. Of course, for the home foundry users, playing alchemist isn’t really an option or necessary and scrap brass is perfectly acceptable in many cases. Locating scrap pieces of brass should be sufficient enough for whatever project you have in mind. Due to brass′ gleam and yellow shine, many artists will use the alloy for sculptures, jewelry, and other decorative items. Other metal casters may choose to use brass for general hardware needs or vintage car restoration, and of course, whatever else they may choose.
Generally there are three casting methods that prove to be suitable for Brass Casting . The nice thing about metal casting is that there are so many methods to experiment with and that casters don′t have to be locked into one method or technique.
Metal Casting casting is usually associated with bronze casting but can also be used for brass and for really any other metal. By using a wax model and covering it with a ceramic shell, artisans are able to inject the molten alloy which replaces the wax. The brass piece will be shown once you start to chip away at the shell. Lost wax casting is used when a high attention to detail is needed. Artists or metal casters looking to create decorative brass pieces or sculptures will find that the lost wax casting technique will meet their needs far better than other techniques and methods.
