February 26, 201412 yr Hello all, I was wondering if someone could help me. I am wanting to make a pendant out of bronze. So my question is how could I make a small billet, with things from around the house or from the hardware store.
February 26, 201412 yr It kind of depends on what you are making....are you planning on melting the metal and pouring it into a mold; or fabricating something out of small pieces? We need more information. From your question, it sounds like casting. What is "small"? We all have a different idea of that one.
February 26, 201412 yr My first casting class used scrap plumbing pieces for the brass. I've cast using stainless steel creamers for a crucible (very carefully as they do degrade with use!), my coal forge as the furnace, borax for a flux; DRY charcoal rod as a deoxidizer and modern us pennies as a replacement zinc source. For my molds I use petrobond oil sand Bronze---not many things around the house are a true bronze; like a 90:10 Copper:Tin I feel that casting is MUCH MORE DANGEROUS than forging it's quite easy to maim or kill yourself doing it. I STRONGLY ADVISE WORKING WITH SOMEONE WHO CAN SHOW YOU THE ROPES ESPECIALLY ABOUT SAFETY, TO GET STARTED! backyardmetalcasting.com might be a good place to start.
February 27, 201412 yr Author Oh I was just wanting to make a billet and then forge a pendant by hand. Sounds like it may be a better idea just to buy some bronze stock then ?
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