From ThreadsOfTime

Brass Founder

Brass founders melt both brass and bronze and pour them into molds to form irons, bells, coach and harness fittings, shoe buckles, sword hilts, furniture hardware, and many other things.

Foundry men use a method known as 'sand casting'. The mold is actually made of a fine sand and clay mixture – a material that could withstand high temperature of the molten brass. The founder begin by creating a pattern made of wood or a soft metal like lead or pewter. Next, he packs the moistened molding sand over the pattern – first on one side, then the other. The mold is made in halves so that when the packing is finished, the founder can open the mold and remove the pattern. He then cuts channels in the sand so the molten metal can flow into the pattern. Smaller channels let air and gases escape from the mold as the metal flows in. The founder then puts the halves of the sand mold back together.

The brass – usually scrap – is put into a clay melting pot or crucible and heated in a forge. When the metal is melted and reaches the right temperature for pouring (which has to be judged by eye), the founder uses a pair of tongs to take the crucible from the forge and pour the molten brass into the mold.

After the metal has cooled and hardened, the founder opens the mold and removes the casting, destroying the mold in the process. Following this dangerous and difficult process, more work still remains to finish the casting – filing, scraping, fitting and assembling parts, sanding, and polishing.

The founder requires a strong constitution and a robust body to undergo the heat of the fire and etc. And it is certainly true that heat, dirt, and hard work have always been realities of the founder's trade.

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