After a lot of thinking and soul searching and whatnot I have decided that I want to pursue a dream I have had since I was a younger man. Casting metal sculptures.  There is no way I am going to be able to take a class, attend a workshop, or find a mentor.  I live in the middle of nowhere and have two jobs.so leaving town is not an option.  I know of several welder/artist types here, but no casters. So, i am on the road of self discovery.  I am looking for good books, hopefully with quality illustrations.  Manuals, PDFs, or videos would be cool, but I don't know of any good ones.  There is nothing at our public library, and only two books at the nearest university library that are checked out.  Since I am not a student I cannot put a hold on them.  Interlibrary loan here only allows 5 days with a book, so that is not really an option.

 I have no real desire to cast iron right now, but copper, brass, bronze and aluminum, are what I am aiming for.  Gas, or charcoal, and I even have quite a bit of coal hanging out, but people don't like coal burned in town, so fuel choice is varied.  I would prefer to use LP though. 

Where do you folks suggest I start?

 

http://gingerybooks.com/
  Dave Gingery did a series of books on how to start with building a foundry and melting and casting Aluminum and then using that to build a series of machine tools.  If you learn the basics you can then expand on them in ways you want to go.

Also check www.finney-hobar.com/skipjack.htm  publishes a number of books  on a variety of metal related topics.  Try amazon search books metal sculpture.

 

 

Think about researching (Google) backyard metal casting. They have a very informative site. Worth a gander!

Thanks for the point to backyard metal casting. 

You might try looking for Practical Casting : a Studio reference by Tim McCreight                              published by BrynMorgen Press

The book is geared to the small art form object and heavily influenced by jewelry consideration.  However it does serve as a start to art casting. 

Thanks

I look for books on Amazon and see if they are listing used one for % of the retail buy a number from there.  There are many out of print ones listing from all over the USA.

Good advice and tips provided above, casting is something I started doing in my school years and have continued to do on and off over the years. There is an absolute plethora of very good information freely available on the interweb. Fuel wise you can chose from solid (wood/charcoal/coke/coal), liquid oil burners are not overly difficult to make and out in the middle of nowhere burning used oil shouldn't be problematic. Propane or an electric furnace....shoot, you can even cast in a microwave oven (I'll let you research that one yourself). While you're busy doing your google research get busy collecting stock, You've already mentioned the metals you would like to cast, but don't dismiss zinc and lead, being easy to melt in cheap heavy steel crucibles, they are a good intro. Just be sure to study and take all required safety precautions, as you should do with any metal, process or equipment.

Study. learn, enjoy and BE SAFE, molten metal takes no prisoners!

 

Agree with the above tips. Some advanced reading.

http://www.hnsa.org/resources/manuals-documents/single-topic/foundry-manual/

wow  not for the faint hearted, or beginner.  Got that saved as reference.

Agree with the above tips. Some advanced reading.

http://www.hnsa.org/resources/manuals-documents/single-topic/foundry-manual/

Thanks.