GhostTownForge Posted March 2, 2023 Author Posted March 2, 2023 And rest assured; my parents have approved of this project. Quote
George N. M. Posted March 2, 2023 Posted March 2, 2023 Yes, but was their approval, to use a legal phrase, "full and knowing?" That is, were they aware of all the pluses and minuses of the project? If they are, great. If they are not it is not a binding approval. I suggest that you have them read all the postings in this thread and if they are still cool with it drive on. However, if they have concerns and questions let us know and we will try to address them. BTW, I assume you are in middle school or high school (or maybe home schooled) but does your local HS offer a shop class that includes foundry work? If so, take it when you can. It might not be offered except to Juniors and Seniors. Again, good luck and be safe. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote
GhostTownForge Posted March 8, 2023 Author Posted March 8, 2023 They were aware of the risks, yes. and I am homeschooled. Quote
NoGoodWithUsernames Posted March 8, 2023 Posted March 8, 2023 GhostTownForge: Have you seen Clickspring on YouTube? He does some hobby level casting as part of what he does, check out some of his stuff. If for nothing else it is a cool channel. Quote
George N. M. Posted March 8, 2023 Posted March 8, 2023 It's interesting that almost all the younger folks on IFI seem to be home schooled. Interesting. There's probably a Master's thesis or a PhD dissertation in that statement. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote
Latticino Posted March 10, 2023 Posted March 10, 2023 On 3/2/2023 at 4:11 PM, George N. M. said: local HS offer a shop class that includes foundry work You have foundries and such in high schools there? Even back in my day they didn't have those here. These days they are removing most of the real hands on stuff from the typical public high schools (metal shop, automotive shop...). Still have wood shops, but pretty de-emphasized. Everything is going over to "technology" with multiple computer stations and 3D printers. Not that there isn't a place for those, but it is a shame to lose the practical classes. I know HS graduates that barely know which end of a screwdriver to hold. Quote
JHCC Posted March 10, 2023 Posted March 10, 2023 When I was in shop class in Philadelphia some forty years ago, there was some extremely basic woodworking and metalwork (we all made rings out of a strip of brass with a dime soldered to it), but all of the big machinery -- lathes, table saws, power hacksaw, etc -- was just sitting there gathering dust. My son's high school had a really good wood shop, but it had been turned over to the maintenance department to fabricate and fix stuff from the school. Quote
ThomasPowers Posted March 10, 2023 Posted March 10, 2023 Why do you think all gloves are made from leather? Quote
Scott NC Posted March 10, 2023 Posted March 10, 2023 I don't know all that much about it but I think a lot of community colleges and tech schools now allow high school students to take classes towards a degree or just to check out a career path. Perhaps just out of interest....??? That may be worth looking into in the future. Sometimes free tuition. A quick search locally showed least welding and carpentry. I don't know about casting, though. It might be the "new" shop class. Quote
George N. M. Posted March 10, 2023 Posted March 10, 2023 The high school I went to (graduated back in the Neolithic in 1964, and, no shop classes did not include flint knapping) had fairly minimal shop courses because it was considered an "academic" high school. When we graduated from 8th grade we had a choice of going to an academic school, or Chicago Vocational School, or the girls could go to a "business (read "secretarial") school down in the Loop. At CVS there were various vocational majors such as automotive mechanics, aviation repair, sheet metal, etc.. One of those was foundry. They had a commercial level foundry to train students in that area. This was over a half century ago and I don't know how the programs have mutated since then. It may have gone in the same direction as Latticino's school given the shift away from heavy industrial operations. Training in foundry operations is probably now more concentrated in fine arts courses for jewelry making where a big pour would be a pound of metal. I think most larger art casting is contrated out to large art foundry operations. There is a large one fairly near us in Loveland, CO. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote
GhostTownForge Posted March 20, 2023 Author Posted March 20, 2023 Our college has a program where you can check out one free class, but I don't know what lessons they have. It might be worth it to check it out. Quote
M.J.Lampert Posted March 20, 2023 Posted March 20, 2023 I know the local highschool in my area allowed students to make knifeshaped objects in class so long as they didnt sharpen them there (this was last year) (they also were learning how to weld with O-A torches) though in non rural areas a lot of the stuff we do in general is not allowed to be done in the cities Quote
Scott NC Posted March 22, 2023 Posted March 22, 2023 Sorry, GhostTownForge, I missed the homeschool part but if they offer a class of any sort you are interested in, take advantage of it. Who knows what you will learn. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.