One of the things that I miss about working in the studio at Southern Illinois University was the ability to cast objects. In anticipation for some upcoming commission work, quite the motivator, I decided that doing forge smelting may not be the most effective method for melting larger quantities of metal. I have in my possession a couple of pamphlets that I purchased years ago that details how to do 'Backyard Metal Casting.' Well, I dug these pamphlets out, read them, and decided that maybe this would be the best option for melting down the amount of brass that I have already on hand. Also, I think that using the furnace may be the best route for cupelling the gold and silver that I have as well. (Cupellation is the process of rapid oxidation using heat and lead to remove any metal out of silver and gold... especially as these two elements don't oxidize.)

I started with some mortar mix and sand, then a flower pot and a small steel garbage pail. All said and done, this all cost me around $30, this is certainly a lot less than a $3000 furnace. The following pictures show the quite messy process of getting it all assembled. Essentially, prep the steel can by punching in a couple of holes, filling it with concrete and shoving in the flower pot. Somewhat similar is the can lid, just needed to add a sheet metal ring and some reinforcement bars for the mortar mix. Now all I have left is to wait for the mix to cure, which is about 10 days, before I can light it and see what happens! It would probably be best to give it a slow burn to begin with to finish driving out all of the moisture. I also have some small crucibles that I have made earlier that need to be fired, so, that would be the perfect time to get that all accomplished too.