Ive been metal casting now for 2 years, its not something that i do a lot of, but mostly i make little coins/medals and the odd plaque. I have however also been trying to make a nice axe, a viking style one.
At various points ive tried to cast one of these Ragnar Lothbroks replica axes from thingiverse, but its never really come out well. This is not a reflection of the pattern, this is 100% on me (form quality, mould creation, correct temp, poured well, all of them). So I looked around for another axe form and found the perfect candidate (also on thingiverse).
Sadly I didnt take any photo of the form and mould making process, but it all went well. The form fell out of the sand with no need to touch them, the 2 halfs of the flask just seems to fall into place….something was not right……..
This is the point where we would take about the other axe mould you made and the little coin ones………………shhhhhhhh
As felt fitting, i opted to make these in a simple 95/5 aluminium bronze, im sure the last aluminium bronze i made had a little manganese or silicon in it, but not this time. I also threw in my left over bits from previous aluminium bronze castings, but suspect a little brass got in as there was some zinc looking smoke.
The pour went well, the top of the flask event came mostly off, only the part near the sprue didn’t come away cleanly. The first glipse was promising, the air holes were black, and the runners were all full.
All in all it was one of the best castings i have managed to do, the flask lined up perfectly and the metal seemed to be at the perfect temp to just fill the runners and get into all the corners before freezing and even though i neglected a riser and just used a wide downsprue, the shrinkage happened there so it worked out well.
My wood working skills are primitive at best, so when it came to needing a handle, i brought one….it was too big, i tried to cut it down and well, lets just say its on, but its not pretty and it needs replacing. I also need to get the surface smooth and finished to a shine, but was too eager, so now its a janky, but effecting axe.
