Alathlind

Many thanks, to both of you. In all honesty I guess I was just very eager to kind of just jump right into it, and didn't put too great of an amount of thought in. What few details I found about iron casting weren't acquired without me checking through the workings of non-ferrous metals, so looking back now I think I pretty much know everything I would need to start with the simpler, non-ferrous metals (such as bronze, aluminum, etc) But as always over-zealousness can lead to failure, so yes I suppose it would be a much better to start off with simpler metals and work my way up. One problem I encountered, however, after looking throughout the web and forums, is that I cannot seem to find steps on how to combine the tin and copper together to make the bronze. I would assume it's essentially just as simple as melting together a certain ratio of each metal together in the crucible, then pouring the molten metal into the mold (graphite ingot mold presumably). I'm not sure if it's my attempted search phrases to find any guides on it, or what, but as I said I simply cannot find any guides on it anywhere. But as my first post stated, this is something that I'm newly looking to try my hand at, so please forgive my inexperience/naivety. Anyhow, much thanks on the previous tips.

Hey guys, I'm new to the site and was looking to start doing some smithing work at home. I've gotten instructions on how to make a basic smelter, how to make my own lump charcoal, etc., but I've come across one problem, well, two technically. I don't know what type of crucible and mold to get! I looked around on the web and figured out ( I think ) that for smelting iron I would need a clay-graphite crucible and mold. But after looking through a few websites I can't find any, and the ones I did find were written in some extremely specific way that I couldn't make out. Was wondering if anyone would be able to help me to figure out the type of crucible and mold I would need (was trying to find a long bar mold to cast the basic bar structure for swordmaking, I know the description sucks so I attached a picture of what I mean) and if they could point me to where to find said mold and crucible (for a reasonable price; ~$50), would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Alathlind