Messing about with pewter

[glatt]

The directions say to use talcum powder in the rubber molds to allow the molten pewter to flow well.

I blow the excess out with canned air so an even film remains.

The fuel tank on the camp stove needs to be pumped up.

With the flame going, it's beginning to melt.

[glatt]

Now it's mostly melted.

And the molds in the gas grill are up to about 200 degrees F.

We scrape the scum on the surface to the side.

And here, I'm pouring into my mold. It was too busy for an action shot. The loops wanted to float up on the surface, and also I realized the grill is not level.

[glatt]

I went first and used most of the pewter, so we added some more and melted that.

My son scrapes scum to the side.

And he pours his into his mold.

He made a different style of loop, and I have to admit it looks better.

[glatt]

But his loop really wants to float on the surface of the molten pewter. He has to hold it down with a spoon as the pewter cools a little and solidifies.

Here's his loop in the pewter.

And mine had hardened by now,

So I popped it out. Not bad, but one area didn't flow properly and there is a crater.

[glatt]

I wanted to give it another try. The rubber mold is still in great shape, so I melted some more pewter.

I leveled up the wire screen rack I made by bending one of the legs so it wasn't as tall.

It looks much better and more even in thickness.

I jammed my wire hoops in place.

[glatt]

My son also wanted a second shot at making his. So he pours another.

And my second try had cooled enough, so I popped it out of the mold.

Anticipation...

The wire loop pokes through the face a little bit, but other than that, it's much better. I plan to coat the background in black ink or paint, and I think the hoop will be hidden.

[glatt]

So I experimented with black spray paint wiped off immediately with a paper towel. That was on the crater one. It's OK, but not great.

So with the second one, I put a heavy coat of black paint on it an allow it to dry.


It's drying now, and I'll go down later to sand the high spots down to bright bare metal. I'm hoping it will look really good with the contrast between black and bright shiny metal.



Hopefully more soon...

[BigV]

Bravo!

[zippyt]

this guy does some cool stuff with foam , you may want to try , lamguage is a bit "Shopish " so be ware

[zippyt]

and yes he finally got it

[xoxoxoBruce]

You're getting the hang of it but you have to streamline the operation before you go into full production for national distribution.

[glatt]

I started by placing a sheet of sandpaper on my flat table saw and trying to sand off all the high spots in the same plane to make it look really crisp.

But it didn't look great. Some of the letters were shallower than others and didn't get polished up.

So I switched to a dremel with a little abrasive bit and traced the tops of the letters. The dremel produces different facets, so it doesn't shine for the camera shooting from a single point. But it looks pretty good in person when you have two eyes and see it from different angles.

And I folded the loops back a little flat to grab the neckerchief securely. I gave it the hop up and down test, and it stayed put.

I'm pretty happy with it.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by zippyt

this guy does some cool stuff with foam , you may want to try , lamguage is a bit "Shopish " so be ware

I love AvE! Subscribed to him a while ago.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You ought to get a badge for that.

[footfootfoot]

Nice work. Try a maroon scotchbrite pad with a hard backer. That should help smooth the facets and not go into the black, depending on how deep it is.

Yeah, AvE is great fun.