Miniature Tools

[Ralph Juarros]

Couple related items. These two casting trees may have nothing directly to do with woodworking, but are examples of a procedure in the lost wax casting process which I sometimes use to build woodworking planes. Ralph


A set of 4 hammer heads still "on the tree" resembling a flower. Just didn't have the heart to separate them.








A set of solid Gold jacks.





Cut from the tree and buffed. Now need polishing and the companion ball. These trees are on 1/4 inch background graph paper.

[Jack Curtis]

...A set of 4 hammer heads still "on the tree" resembling a flower. Just didn't have the heart to separate them.


...

I would think that an odd number of petals would be closer to reality, so either 3 or 5 would look better. Right?

[David M Anderson]

I would think that an odd number of petals would be closer to reality, so either 3 or 5 would look better. Right?

I would like to think "rarity" as in finding a four leaf clover.. =]

[Ralph Juarros]

Some don't. Ralph

[Ralph Juarros]

Some do. Ralph


https://www.google.com/search?q=four...w=1920&bih=917

[Jack Curtis]

Dang, and I'd thought I was being so careful to avoid the wrath of the 4 petals. Besides, I was talking about the hammer heads. Right?

[Ralph Juarros]

Of course you are both right, Jack and David, and I appreciate your thoughts and interest.
On every casting tree I try to position as many pieces as possible, yet leaving enough room for a substantial plaster wall between the pieces in the mold to avoid ruptures.
As an amateur, I have done as many as 10 rings on one tree. The real pros do up to 100 in casting factories.
My intent was to demonstrate that lost wax casting can be done well and affordably at home.
There are no real rules but a high regard for safety. Manipulating high heat and molten metal can be dangerous.
And yet, I say that it is so intense that it is hardly worth doing unless the piece holds high personal value.

But when this:





becomes this:





and, ultimately, this:









I forget how difficult, complex and dangerous the process was, and I just appreciate the results

Ralph

[Jack Curtis]

Well, I think this is all very cool. A somewhat interesting tidbit is that when I was very young, around 8 years old or so, I started studying archaeology off to the side. This is where I first read about the "lost wax process." Since it all was based on digging up old stuff, I thought that there was some old "wax process" used to make beautiful gold art but that we had forgotten ("lost") knowledge of the process and no longer knew how to do it. To this day I have to correct myself every time I read "lost wax process."

[Ralph Juarros]

Actually Jack, you may be right. My first understanding is that the lost wax casting process had become a forgotten (lost) process in the Western world, though is is now believed, based on advanced archaeology, that variations of the process have been used in the old worlds as far back as 3700BC as per items found in Southern Israel. The process is believed to have been lost in the Western world due primarily to selfish zealot rulers who, not only had molds of unique precious items destroyed so that no one else could have such items, they ultimately had the artist put to death to ensure that no other copies could ever exist, and the art died with the artists. It is my understanding that the process was rediscovered in the West only recently (19th) century by a dentist looking for a better way to make false teeth. If the process had been known before that, George Washington would not have had clumsy wooden or ivory teeth. Archaeology and further research may yet teach us different. My story is much like yours. These are the primary reasons that I decided to explore the art - to demonstrate that it could be done with limited equipment and materials. It might be that there are other truths to be learned. Ralph

[Ralph Juarros]

Miniature hammers and more. I know that this may have little to do with wood work but thought some might find it of interest. Ralph


See action video on YouTube. Ralph


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARI53...qMJcEsSWF5Eu5A

[Jack Curtis]

Actually Jack, you may be right. My first understanding is that the lost wax casting process had become a forgotten (lost) process in the Western world, though is is now believed, based on advanced archaeology, that variations of the process have been used in the old worlds as far back as 3700BC as per items found in Southern Israel....

Fascinating that two perfectly reasonable interpretations of an ambiguous phrase ("lost wax process") can describe alternative courses of history. Also describes how those in charge generally wreck things in the name of power and/or money (like our illustrious captains of industry giving away our technology to make money, so we not only lose the control of the technology, we have to pay for its loss). Thanks for telling me maybe as a child I had the right instincts.

I watched a couple of your new videos, very interesting, I loved the little #12 scraper and the router. I'll work through the remaining ones day by day.

[Ralph Juarros]

I have a small collection of little table vises.





And have decided to build a miniature version - about 2/3 scale of the smallest one I have:





That would make it about 2 1/4 inches tall. I have a good start and can visualize it well.





Now I just have to get down to building one. I plan to build wax models and cast it in sterling silver. Ralph

[Jim Ritter]

Those are nice Ralph. I have one very similar to those. I'd love to make a special sized one in bronze. But I'm not up to that task yet. I love seeing the things you've made and am interested in seeing how you do this one.
Jim

[Ralph Juarros]

Thanks Jim. I appreciate your interest.


I have a Good start. I've wrapped my head around this vise and can see it in three dimensional space.






Next I'll cut and carve the hard wax into the proper form then cast it to build a master pattern
from which will result a rubber mold to produce casting copies. This will be a long process. I'll try to document and post.





As Michelangelo once replied when asked how he could sculpt such a fine elephant out of a block of marble, " All that needs to be done is to remove from the block everything that doesn't look like an elephant." I'm no Michelangelo, but I think that I know what a table vise looks like, and removed from the block of wax all the parts that didn't look like one and added flow channels and cosmetic touches.

[Ralph Juarros]

The pattern is placed in a flask




and the investment is prepared (like pancake batter)





The investment is degassed in a vacuum chamber on a shake table.





And baked in incrementally higher temperatures to solidify and to melt out the wax (lost Wax)