: Hi Malcolm,

: Why not make your own brass fittings? You can buy a book at the link below,
: that will teach you how to make your own metal foundry and melt aluminium
: and brass (I'm not sure of the meltingpoint of bronze you may be able to
: do that too), make molds, and pour your own castings.

: The book only costs $7.95, and you should be able to set up a furnace for
: less than $25. I've been thinking about doing this for a few years, but
: have other priorities, so I won't try it myself for a while yet.

: You'd be working with molten metal, obviously pretty dangerous stuff, but,
: you could make some pretty nice fittings for deck rigging etc.

: Anybody else tried this?

: Cheers,

: Paul.

I learned bronze casting from sculptors and a professional casting artisan in college.

Casting is certainly a lot of fun AND a lot of very hard dangerous work.

The silicon bronze we used melts at 2100°. Molds and all work surfaces MUST be bone dry because the metal at this temperature will vaporize ANY moisture EXPLOSIVELY!

I've seen dime and nickel sized drops of molten bronze bounce like Crazy© balls as vaporized moisture in the concrete floor launched the drops into the air. I was doing an amusing dance to avoid having one land on my foot.

You certainly can do this at home. I have a set up I've used with a small crucible and tongs, a simple furnace of fire bricks, fired with coke and a vacuum cleaner blower.

You need serious body protection, at least leather, at best special casting suits and a specialized face shield is a must.

BUT! This is NOT the kind of technique you learn from a book without a very high potentual for doing serious injury to yourself and maybe burning your house down.

I have thought of making my own cast hardware. I have not, because I KNOW how much work it is.

Not only must you learn casting, you must learn how to sculpt your master pattern, how to copy it, mold making, casting plumbing and if 70% of you castings work you then must clean, chase and polish the hardware. AND unless you can chrome plate the hardware, or coat and recoat it with lacquer, it will corrode.

So learn to cast if you like, but be prepared for a long wait for that deck hardware.

All the best,

Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com