dan_m

Here's what they look like on the underside: My friend and his dad call them "loom shoes", but a quick google search for that term didn't bring up anything relevant. The guy I got off of CL charged $175 for 60 miles one way, 120 total...he was real nice and did a good job so I gave him 200, and that still seemed cheap.

Success! Picked up the table today. Thanks to everyone for the advice. We ended up getting a tow driver to bring a rollback, and used a forklift at our end. Here are a few pictures for reference in case anyone has to do this themselves in the future and don't really know how to go about it... This was right after we jacked it up and put it on rollers. My friends dad brought some nice track jacks and rollers, the rollers have a steel frame and each one has three 3" solid steel rollers mounted in it. Getting ready to pull it up. Safely arrived at my building. ...and unloaded in the alley. That dog must have been in storage under the table, didn't notice it til we got home. The roll-up door into my building into my building is only 6' wide, so we had to move the frame on its side. We had to take the platens off and then replace them. Done! Just needs to be rolled to its final position and leveled.

You can try using Google Sketchup as well. It's free and very intuitive to use, plus Google has tutorial videos available as well as an active support forum. You can also get plugins to export your files in different formats (CAD, 3D printers, etc). I found it to be more trouble than it's worth for organic forms, but for stuff with right angles or defined curves it's extremely useful and easier to learn than CAD. You can also make your own models for different steel types and sizes and save them so that you can import premade pieces of stock into your design and not have to start from scratch every time.

Great info, thanks for taking the time to put this together. I have a small gas forge that I bought at one point, but will be building a larger, adjustable one soon and this is a great starting point. I was actually considering going with an induction forge instead of a second gas forge, but now... :(

Mine changes depending on where I am projectwise. I rarely clean up much until a project is finished, since I like all the tools I'm using to be out on the table. That said, half the time I still never clean up after a project. I like looking at all of my tools and although it's nice to start work in a clean shop, it always feels kind of sterile to me. I can never find anything regardless, even if it's right in front of me on a clean workbench, so I deal with it by having multiples of the tools I need all the time. There is a plethora of tape measures, utility hammers, safety glasses, etc scattered throughout by shop so there's always one nearby, and even if the one closest to me goes invisible I'll be able to find another one.

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing for a gate I'm finishing up this week. Good to know it worked for someone else. Permalac is the most durable clear coat I've ever come across, very pricey but worth it.

Here's a link to an online image optimizer: http://www.imageoptimizer.net/Pages/Home.aspx. You just tell it which photo on your computer you want to reduce and it does it instantly and provides you a link to download the smaller file. It's really straightforward to use. Hope you find it helpful.

I used vise grips when I was starting out. I think you'll find them more comfortable than channel locks...real tongs are nice because the long handles increase your leverage, making it easy to hold a piece firmly. With vise grips the clamping action does this for you, but channel locks will probably end up tiring out the hand you hold them with before your hammer arm because you'll have to squeeze so hard. Plus they'll chew up the part they are holding. Since the jaws on vise grips are relatively parallel if you're holding smaller stock, you can grind the teeth off and still get a decent grip. You can also grind Vs into the jaws to hold round stock more securely.

My friend's dad works for a large demolition company that does a lot of rigging, and he is going to come with us and bring a bunch of that stuff in case the tow driver doesn't have enough. I'm pretty sure the platens are just set on the table right now. Do you think it's sufficient to use a ton of heavy duty straps and chains to secure them to the stand? There are also a bunch of huge c-clamps I'll be picking up from this place, so I could use them as well. Otherwise I'm not sure how I would attach them...I assume the platens are cast iron and so not able to be welded on.

Thanks! Somehow I missed that before. I just called a towtruck on CL and he quoted me $250 if I have it on wheels and ready at the door when he shows up. I don't have to move it in pieces this way either. Looks like I'll be going that route, seems like the cheapest way to do it, and safe as well.

I don't have an engine hoist, but there is a forklift here I can use to unload it. Do you think it would be realistic to mount a winch on the truck I have available and use it to pull the plates onto the bed? I was thinking of rolling the table up to the truck, using the winch to pull one plate off the stand a few inches, jacking the overhanging bit up enough to clear the bed, backing the truck up under it, and pulling it on. Then same thing with the second piece, with wood blocking between the two so I can unload it with the forklift on my end. I drew a picture to explain what I mean. It seems alright in my head, so let me know if I'm overlooking something. I called a rigger today, the guy who does all the work for the building I'm in, and he quoted me $650. Even the $500 the guy offered to deliver for seems like a lot to pay on top of the cost of the table itself. Wish it was just down the street.

Went and checked it out this afternoon. It's a 4x8 platen bolted to a 3x8, 3.25" thick through not counting the skirt (thanks for that tip Grant, probably would have overlooked it). Taking into account the number and volume of the holes, they should weigh approximately 3000 and 2250 respectively. The stand is one piece, all welded, including a 7x8, 1/4" thick plate that the legs are bolted to. That plate alone should weigh nearly 600 pounds, so I'm figuring the overall weight to be 6500-7000 pounds to be safe. I'm not even going to bother attempting this on a trailer with my van. The guy mentioned that he'd rather not deliver it, but might be willing to rent a forklift and use his trailer for $500. I know I'll end up paying more than that for a rigger, and I found out today I've got access to a stake body truck that should handle it no problem, but that still leaves me having to rent a forklift. I briefly looked up forklift rental prices today (not so sure that he did), and it seems like between compensating someone for the use of their truck and renting the forklift with delivery and pick-up I'm better off talking the guy into delivering it and saving myself the trouble. There is also a bunch of other equipment there, including a 150# Peter Wright anvil (top flat and in good shape minus a little hill in the few inches before the step), angle roll (which I would really love), lathe, ironworker, electric hoist, plasma cutter, a few other things I can't remember now, and tons of smaller bits. I know they've been trying to sell the stuff for at least 6 months if not longer (called an acquaintance with a rigging question who we ended up realizing had gone to check out the ironworker and platen table over the summer), and it's in the middle of nowhere with a gravel driveway, tons of junk blocking the route of a forklift (including an abandoned car rebuild that needs to be pushed out of the building), so I'm hoping they'll give me a good discount if I take it all at once.

Well, I appreciate everyone's advice. When I talked to the guy he didn't know the thickness of the table or the hole size, but I'm going down to check it out tomorrow morning and I'll be able to calculate the weight after that. Thinking about it more, it probably is out of my vehicle's capacity to move it all at once, and considering the hassle it will be to move it myself as well as needing two trips, I'll probably call around for some help tomorrow after I figure out the weight.

Thanks for the advice guys. BTW macbruce, I didn't buy it (yet), just wanted others' opinion on the price...seemed reasonable enough to me, but I haven't been looking that long. smithy1, not sure exactly what you mean. I don't understand how, once it was on dollies, I would get it up onto a trailer. Care to elaborate? I'm experienceless as far as stuff like this goes, never even used a trailer before (my van has a hitch though, so renting one isn't off the table). Also, I didn't mention it in the original post as it didn't seem relevant, but there is an ironworker in the way that needs to be moved to get the table out. I guess this could be propped with jacks also put on dollies to move it? I'd rather do it myself a save a few hundred dollars, but at this point it looks like if I need to rent a forklift I may as well pay someone else to move it. If you or anyone else can explain how to get it from dollies onto the trailer without one that would be great, otherwise I'll start looking for help tomorrow.

That's a cool technique, I've never seen it before. If that's what your doing a steel crucible might even be better since you could make it tall and skinny, just make sure to weld it real well. I'll probably try this at some point too, something neat to do with the leftover bronze before it goes into an ingot mold. Please do post pictures when you're done!

I'm not sure where this post belonged so I stuck it here, sorry if it's in the wrong spot. I just spoke with someone who is selling a large platen table (7' x 8'), which is in two pieces that can be unbolted. He wasn't at the shop when we talked, and didn't know offhand if the halves are 3.5' x 8' or 4' x 7' (I'm wondering if it's just 4' x 8' and he is mistaken). I've never moved something this large before, and I need some advice on how to go about it. First off, there's a forklift in my building that we can use to unload it on my end, but this guy does not have one. Is it possible to rent a forklift, or bobcat with forks, for a few hours? If so, where do I look for something like that, and how much can I expect to pay? Also, I have no idea how I would move the thing from the rental place to his shop. Thoughts? I've got an E350 super duty van, which fits 4' x 8' material flat on the floor, but I'm assuming these are too heavy to load the long way and that I'll need to rent a trailer—am I right about this? All of this seems like a lot of hassle, but I'd really love a platen table, especially one this large, so I'm going to have to deal with the logistics at some point. Do you think it would be worth it to just find someone local to me who has a large trailer & forklift they can load onto it and pay them to drive me down and get it? He is a little over an hour away. Since the price is obviously a factor in how much effort/expenditure it's worth just picking it up, he's asking $1200 for it, stand included as well as a few pieces of tooling. Please let me know if that's a reasonable deal and worth the trouble...I've been keeping my eye out for one for the last six months and it seems pretty fair to me, especially considering that most of the time I can't even find any for sale at all locally. Thanks for all your advice!

Here are two links to sites you can purchase crucibles from: http://www.lmine.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=crucibles http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/Crucibles.php The first site seems to have better prices, but they only carry silicon carbide crucibles in a #10 (which holds about 30 pounds) and larger. What size were you looking for? Obviously the way you plan on melting the brass will influence that decision. Do you have or plan on building a furnace, or are you looking for something small you can stick in a gas forge? The second link has very small sizes of silicon carbide crucibles (the type typically used for brass, bronze, etc.), but the first one carries "fused silica" crucibles in small size for very cheap. I have no experience with or knowledge about these, but based on the temperature rating given on the site they should be alright. Especially if you aren't very experienced with welding, it's definitely a better bet to buy the real thing. If you do decide to make your own, make sure you use heavy enough stock. I've used 1/4" wall pipe on a 3/8" steel plate successfully for a long time with aluminum, but the only time I've ever used a steel crucible for a copper alloy it failed when I was about to pull it from the furnace. If you go that route and want to avoid contamination & inclusions from steel flaking off (which it will do rapidly), there is a product called Marcote 7 available from the second link above that you can coat the interior of the pipe with. Also, be sure to use a flux—it will form a skin on the surface and prevent the zince & lead in the brass from vaporizing out of the top. Be very careful of the fumes, they are nasty. Good luck!

If you ever find yourself doing any more investment castings in the future, you can make a slip coat by making your normal investment mix but using silica flour instead of course sand, and mixing it pretty wet. You just pour it over the wax pattern and use a brush to fully coat, and let it set up before investing the piece. It creates a thin layer of investment over the pattern with no bubbles, and then when you pour the mold the two layers bond. It virtually eliminates the problem of air bubbles, but you have to be careful not to make the slip coat too thin or it will crack when the bronze hits it. And yeah, silicone molds are fabulous. That's how I did the acorns that I poured, a silicone mold of the real thing and then a zillion wax copies. I use Polytek PlatSil 71-20 and have always been very happy with it.

I hadn't seen that, in fact I haven't looked at Lionel's site in over a year and didn't know it had moved. Thanks for linking to it, as well as that supplier (hadn't heard of them before).

Hi all, figured I'd make my first post something useful rather than a question. I know more about casting than blacksmithing, so I figured I’d help add to the casting section a little by providing a general overview of how to get started in casting, reference books, equipment needed, safety precautions, etc. Hopefully this will be something that can be referenced to give some direction to the people asking "how do I start casting metal" or "can I cast my own anvil", etc, since there seem to be a fair number of those posts. I just did a bronze pour and ended up repeatedly explaining the process to all of my neighbors in the building where I live and work, so all of this been in the front of my mind this week anyway. Before all the info I’ll show some pictures of the pour, since it always looks pretty cool. View of my furnace running, with investment molds in the foreground: Me checking on or poking something: Taking the crucible out of the furnace: Pouring: Poured: This is what was inside (16 acorns + gating system): Acorn TIG welded to a steel stub (will be attached to a forged branch on a gate): A bunch of acorns, ready to be attached to the gate: SAFETY Don’t do this unless you’ve done your due diligence. Ideally you would learn from someone in person, but if this isn’t possible you should read a few books (recommendations at the end of this post) and watch some videos of home metal pours on the internet. Molten metal in any quantity larger than a weld puddle is extremely dangerous, and not respecting it is for a serious accident. If you have questions, ask. Don’t blame me if you hurt yourself. MOLTEN METAL Once you have any quantity of molten metal, moisture becomes an extreme danger. A drop of molten metal on concrete (which holds moisture) will turn the water in the pores to steam, causing a small explosion which will propel liquid metal and chips of concrete into the air. Now think about what would happen if you spilled a whole crucible. ALWAYS CARRY AND POUR METAL OVER DRY SAND. If you stick anything—a stirring rod, a skimmer, more pieces of metal to melt—into the crucible when there is molten metal in it, that object needs to be DRY. This is as simple as preheating metal on top of your furnace while it is running, and holding the end of any tools in the exhaust flame for a few seconds, but if you forget you will cause the molten metal to explode while you are standing there with your face over it. Likewise, your ingot molds (where you pour the leftover metal after filling your molds) need to be preheated on the furnace, or an explosion will occur. ASSUME THAT UNLESS SOMETHING IS TOO HOT TO TOUCH, THAT IT IS WET. SAFETY EQUIPMENT Goggles and a faceshield, not one or the other. Thick leather jacket, stick welding gloves, jeans, and heavy leather boots. That’s what I wear. Works fine to protect against the occasional bit of splatter, and at least won’t melt to your skin in a disaster scenario. Always keep a bucket of dry sand and a shovel on hand in case of a spill, and a chill bar (piece of heavy angle iron welded to the end of a three foot rod) to seize up the flow in case of a mold bursting or leaking. HOMEMADE CRUCIBLES Because of the serious dangers involved in working with molten metal, I strongly recommend NOT using a homemade crucible for anything hotter than aluminum (ie any copper alloys and cast iron). The proper crucibles will be discussed below with each individual metal, and a suitable homemade crucible for aluminum and other low-temp alloys will be explained. Proper crucibles are essential, even if you make every other part of your setup: ------------------------------------------- First I’ll give a quick overview of some different metals you might want cast, and then I’ll give some details about the general equipment you’ll need to make for a small foundry. ------------------------------------------- METALS STEEL Alright, so first off, you are probably never going to cast steel at home, and you are definitely never going to make a steel casting the size of an anvil. That’s just reality. Getting a crucible furnace to the temperature needed to pour steel is possible, but it will turn your furnace into a consumable. I’ll address this first, since it seems like a lot of people are interested in casting steel. Here are approximate melting points of some various metals (all temperatures in F): Mild Steel: 2750 Cast Iron: 2100 Silicon Bronze: 1800 Aluminum: 1200 Lead: 680 Keep in mind that you need the metal to be superheated a few hundred degrees above these temperatures to successfully pour them, so for example iron will be poured around 2300-2500 (hotter for thinner castings). The temperature in your furnace will need to be even hotter than this, meaning that your internal furnace temperature will be close to 3000. The refractory I used for my furnace is rated at 3000, and as mild steel melts at around 2750, you can see why melting it will rapidly destroy your furnace. Here is a picture of the refractory lining on my furnace where a drop of molten iron landed on it: Bronze and aluminum will just stick to the surface, but molten iron literally eats right into it. The furnace gets so hot that you need one of the green oxy-acetylene faceshields just to view it with the lid open. It just can't handle the temperatures needed to melt steel. CAST IRON That said, with a properly constructed furnace melting cast iron is not at all difficult, however you need to use sand molds, as investment molds of the type you make at home (discussed below) cannot handle the temperature of molten iron (I’ve tried). Sand molding is an art form in itself, and getting it right will take a good bit of practice. There are a number of good books on this recommended at the end of the post. Finally, for cast iron, you need to purchase a clay-bonded graphite crucible. DO NOT MELT IRON IN SOMETHING YOU MADE YOURSELF. A crucible will run you $50-100. It’s an extremely cheap insurance policy, and is well worth every penny. Seriously. Not kidding. Virtually every piece of foundry equipment I have is homemade, except my crucibles for bronze and iron. BRONZE Ok, on to the nonferrous stuff. I personally only use silicon bronze for my copper-alloy castings, for a number of reasons. The first is it’s composition: Roundabouts 96% copper, 3% silicon, and 1% manganese. Here’s why that is important: brasses and other bronzes generally contain considerable amounts of zinc, tin, and/or lead in addition to the copper. To melt these alloys, you need to heat them above the temperature at which the alloying elements vaporize. This means that some zinc, lead, tin, etc will escape from the surface as a gas, especially when you stir or skim the melt. This means that besides exposing yourself to seriously toxic fumes, you are changing the composition of the metal every time you melt it. Silicon bronze does not change composition even after melting it dozens of time (as long as you keep a crucible only for that alloy), making it perfect for home use where we can’t test the composition of our alloys and where we want to immediately reuse the metal that makes up the gating system. Additionally, you can buy silicon bronze rods from most welding suppliers, meaning that you can weld it with an oxy-acetylene torch or a TIG welder and get a perfect color match (especially great for fixing small pits in castings, and welding two casting together and blending the weld in). For these reasons, I consider it worth the money to buy silicon bronze instead of using scrap bits of unknown composition. For bronze, you really really really want to buy a crucible rather than making one. In particular, buy a silicon carbide crucible—again, around $50-100, and again, totally worth it. I’ve used a homemade crucible of the type described below for melting pure copper, since I didn’t want to contaminate my crucible for silicon bronze and I didn’t want to spend $100 on a one-time experiment. All was going well, the copper melted, I skimmed it, and then closed the lid of the furnace to heat it for another minute as the casting was going to be pretty thin and I wanted it really hot. When I reopened the lid to remove the crucible, it had failed and the bottom of the furnace was a lake of molten copper. If I hadn’t opted to put another minute of heat into it, it would have failed right as I was lifting it out of the furnace. That would have been about half a gallon of molten metal all over my legs and boots. ALUMINUM Aluminum works fine with scrap material, but for best results use cast (not extruded) aluminum. This means car wheels, bicycle parts, etc. are perfect, but tubing, sheet, beer cans, etc. not so much. Because aluminum melts at such a low temperature, you can safely use a PROPERLY CONSTRUCTED steel crucible, or better yet, a cast iron pot. To make the steel crucible, you can just weld a piece of thick-walled pipe to a thicker plate. I've used with much success a 1/4” wall, 4” pipe that was about 10” tall welded to a piece of 3/8” plate. I welded lugs on the side for tongs to grab. If you aren’t a competent welder please have someone else weld it for you, this isn’t the weld you want to fail. Also, as with any crucible, you need to purpose-make tongs that fit very well with no play. LEAD Lead melts at such a low temperature that you don’t even need a furnace, just a suitable steel or cast iron container and some torches. My neighbor recently cast an 1100 pound lead keel for a boat he’s building by putting the lead in a modified cast iron bathtub, melting it with a few roofing torches, and tapping it out of the bottom in to a sand-backed wooden mold. I don’t recommend wooden molds—the surface finish is not the best because of moisture in the mold, and the fire department was called because of the excessive smoking. Even without a furnace, all above safety precautions apply, and remember that lead is extremely toxic. EQUIPMENT Aside from your crucibles for bronze and/or iron, as well as a blower, you can easily make everything you need yourself. My entire foundry cost was easily under $1000, which includes a some good books (bought new, listed below), two crucibles, my furnace (cost about $300 in materials), a pottery kiln ($60 on craigslist, and only needed for lost wax casting), an electric blower ($25 on craigslist) and a slew of homemade equipment, mostly made from scrap steel. My furnace is overbuilt, and probably larger than many people on here would even need. You could spend much less on a simple setup. Here’s my entire foundry, packed away in a corner of my shop (it only comes out from time to time): FURNACE The central piece of equipment in a foundry is the furnace. For the scale we’re talking about, a crucible furnace is by far the most reasonable thing to build, so it’s all I’ll discuss. You can build a relatively furnace that run on propane or natural gas, which is basically just a vertical gas forge with a lid. However, these furnaces will have a hard time melting iron, if they can do it at all. I strongly recommend buying the manual from Colin Peck (in England) called “The Artful Bodger’s Iron Casting Waste Oil Furnace”. This is what I did, and would never build a different style of furnace. The design of the furnace body is simple and easily modified to use the scrap you have on hand, and he has perfected a burner design that uses a gravity feed to burn waste oil (used vegetable oil, used motor oil, and diesel all work well). There is no nozzle on the burner, so the fuel isn’t atomized, meaning you can use waste oil (free but contaminated with particulates) without clogging the burner. Also, since it is gravity fed there is no need for a pump, and oil at atmospheric pressure is MUCH safer than pressurized gas when you’re working with molten metal. Plus, it puts out much, much more heat than propane or natural gas—I can melt 30 pounds of bronze from a cold start in less than 45 minutes. Properly built, it burns very cleanly (zero smoking) and can easily melt cast iron. It could definitely melt steel if you wanted, but it will rapidly deteriorate the furnace lining. Using mostly scrap materials, I spent around $300 on my furnace. The cost is primarily the 3000 degree castable refractory (very highly recommended), which I believe cost $65 for a 50 pound bag (I used 3) about 5 years ago. I won’t give much detail about the furnace design since Colin is trying to sell his book, so you’ll have to buy it from him if you want the plans (please note, I in no way profit from this, nor do I even know Colin. It’s just such a good design that it’s all I care to recommend). HAND TOOLS There are various, simple tools that you need, all of which you can easily make yourself. Pictured here are the pouring shank (long thing that holds the crucible while pouring), crucible tongs (to lift the crucible in and out of the furnace), skimmer (angle iron welded to a rod, curved on the end to fit my crucible, used for skimming slag prior to pouring), and an ingot mold (angle iron with the ends capped and a handle, for pouring off leftover metal after the molds are filled). Other tools not pictured include a 1/2” steel rod for stirring, a chill bar (described above in safety equipment), a pair of tongs for loading preheated metal into the crucible. Really simple stuff. Also note that you don’t need a pyrometer to measure the temperature. Just take your 1/2” rod that you use for stirring and stick it into the melt for a second and then pull it out. If the molten metal slides right off the end, you’re ready to pour. If it clumps up on it, it’s not hot enough. That method has never failed me, for aluminum, bronze, and iron. MOLDING TOOLS This varies depending on whether you are doing sand casting or lost wax casting. I haven’t done sand molds in a few years and no longer have my tools for that, so I won’t try to catalog what you need, but it’s just simple hand tools, and a muller if you're lucky enough to cross paths with one. I would recommend going with Petrobond (oil-bonded sand) over water-bonded sand for a beginner, as it’s easier to deal with and maintain. I won’t go into much detail here on the actual investment casting process, but if you are interested you should buy the last book listed at the end of this post. I will say though that “microcrystalline wax” is what you want to buy if you are making sculptural pieces. It gets very soft when heated from your hands, and can then take any amount of twisting or bending without cracking, and it blends into itself very smoothly. Like silicon bronze, it is a product so superior that it is well worth the money. Investment molds can easily be made from 1 part water, 1 part pottery plaster, and 2 parts coarse sand. For this process, you will need to burn the molds out in a kiln to melt out, burn off, and finally vaporize the wax, as well as calcining the molds. You need to run it for a few days and slowly ramp up the temperature, eventually keeping the molds at 1200 for a day and filling them with molten metal when they cool to around 800. A standard pottery kiln works fine, but be prepared to wake up once or twice each night to check on the temperature unless you have a digital controller. Also, you can burn out other organic objects (vegetables, sticks, etc.) instead of sculpting something with wax. SUPPLIERS/MATERIAL RESOURCES Budget Casting Supply is your best bet for online shopping, but if you live in or near a big city you should really look for local suppliers. If you don't know of one, try searching on ThomasNet. If you're not familiar, that website is a searchable database of manufacturers and suppliers for industry—extremely useful. Often, places that supply foundry equipment or refractory never have walk-in customers, and if you explain what you are doing they are often very intrigued and go out of there way to help you. I still have yet to pay for any ceramic fiber insulation, though I've gotten plenty of it between various forges and my furnace—a large refractory supplier can generally give you a "sample" that is more than enough for whatever you're working on. ------------------------------------------- That’s about all I’ve got for you without writing a book on this. Hopefully this will be helpful to some of you who are interested in adding casting to your metalworking skills. I’m more than happy to answer any questions you have, and if anyone is in the Philadelphia area and wants to see a pour just let me know and I’ll invite you to the next one. ------------------------------------------- RECOMMENDED READING -“The Artful Bodger’s Iron Casting Waste Oil Furnace” by Colin Peck ...available from the author at http://www.artfulbod...alcasting.com/. This manual is what I used to build my furnace described above. I don't think I would ever build a crucible furnace that was not based on this design. Terribly written, never even proofread, but invaluable nonetheless. -“The Metalcaster’s Bible” by C.W. Ammen -“The Complete Handbook of Sand Casting” also by C.W. Ammen ...Ammen’s books are very readable and straightforward. Get these regardless of whether you are making sand or investment molds. -“U.S. Navy Foundry Manual” reprinted by Lindsay Publications ...invaluable resource, but not the kind of book you read straight through (ie, boring technical manual). Again, though it is written for sand casting in particular, much of the information is very pertinent to investment casting as well. -“Charcoal Foundry” by Dave Gingery ...great for starting out, it’s sand casting in its most pared-down form. Perfect for a super-low-cost setup to pour some aluminum to see if you like it. -“Metal Casting: A Sand Casting Manual for the Small Foundry” by Steve Chastain ...there are two volumes. Good books, but not necessary if you are only interested in investment casting. -“Studio Bronze Casting: Lost Wax Method” by John Mills & Michael Gillespie ...for investment casting. Also check Lindsay Publications for other books on casting, including some of those listed above.