Hi guys, I’ve been watching a few Viking themed programs
lately, I decided to have a go at casting some Viking jewellery. In particularly I wanted
to have a go at making Thor’s Hammer which looks a bit like this.
For something this small and detailed, I wanted to go with Lost Wax casting and I used this
wax. It’s fabulous to work with. It tools very well and can even be sanded.
I was able to cut away the rough shape of what I was looking for using a Bandsaw.
I transferred the pattern on to the wax with just the pressure of an ordinary ballpoint
pen. After that, it was a matter of trying to learn
to relief carve wax, something I’ve never done before.
I found lightly starching away what wasn’t wanted worked quite well, but my respect for
jewellery makers has grown considerably. Eventually I came up with a wax model I was
happy with. This got mounted to a wax sprue and set in
investment plaster. The plaster was cooked according to manufacturer’s instructions
to burn out the wax and prepare the plaster for casting.
Once it was ready, I was able to get on with melting some metal.
The pour went well and I plunged the hot flask into cold water as always, which I admit is
my favourite part. Unfortunately the result wasn’t so good.
The casting wasn’t properly formed and was hollow in places.
That meant I had to carve another wax pattern. This time I decided to go a little old school
and include a vent. I also introduced the feed to the bottom of the pattern first so
that as the void receives metal, any trapped gases would be pushed up and out through the
vent. I set this in plaster as before, cast it,
and it still didn’t turn out very well. After much swearing and shaking fists at the
casting gods, I took a closer look at the plunge video and watch carefully… did you
see it? There’s molten metal there. The metal is supposed to freeze inside the
plaster and then be plunged to free the casting. However, I think there was such a large ratio
of plaster that it insulated the metal, keeping it molten.
If you look at the casting again, you can see how a detailed shell has been formed.
But when the flask was plunged, the energetic reaction of the plaster created a vacuum that
sucked out all the molten metal – creating this hollow shell.
That meant I had to carve another wax pattern and by now I was sick of it.
Again I added the vent and I cast everything as before, but this time I left everything
to cool for an hour before plunging. So after a little clean up and some paint
in the recess areas, here it is. And I don’t think it looks too bad.
It did take a long time to clear away the plaster, but it was worth it I think.
For my first attempt at wax casting jewellery, I’m quite pleased, and I don’t think it
look too bad as a Thor’s Hammer. I certainly hope you enjoyed this one guys
and if you did, please like it. Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel and check out my other
videos. Please send in your comments and questions as it’s always great to hear from you guys.
So that’s it for now, take care, and thanks for watching.