subject: The Facts About Casting In Bronze [print this page] The traditional process to cast bronze was first discovered over 4000 years ago, this method led to high quality casts being produced. Many different craftsmen used this method and it is still as popular today, the discovery of bronze enabled people to make better metal objects. Bronzes can be split into several different types including leaded bronze, aluminum bronze and phosphor bronze. Leaded bronze is the one, which is ideal for casting and traditionally used.
Bronze is a durable alloy made by mixing tin and copper. Because bronze is so strong and brittle, it's proven to be the ideal material for making castings, so it's hardly surprising that it's been used throughout history by various cultures in order to cast statues of their gods and other important persons. Bronze is often used in the ship building industry as well, particularly for making fittings which need to be extremely strong. The music industry also continues to use bronze extensively, and in fact, practically all of the fixings on string instruments a made from leaded bronze.
When you cast with bronze you'll first need to make a mold. This will then need to be covered with a layer of clay and a layer of plaster of Paris. Only when this has had a chance to dry out completely, should the cast be removed to show the mold. At this point a thin coating of wax needs to be applied in order to ensure you capture even the finest details of your mold. Once this has been done you can then go ahead and place the pieces of your mold together, after which it can be filled with wax. When the wax has hardened the mold can be removed and any flaws can be rectified.
The wax cast is then dipped into a mixture of sand and plaster you may have to repeat this several times to ensure it is covered totally. Once you have done this several times then the cast is left to dry, it will be incredibly brittle and perfect to add the bronze to. Once you have bronze shells then you add them to a kiln, which will bake the cast, the heat causes the wax to melt and run away leaving the bronze mold. This mold can then be used on any item that you want to create; it will need to be cooled, cleaned and polished. You can then paint the bronze statue or leave it in its natural form, although this process is expensive and time consuming it is the most effective method.
Many people still choose to make bronze statues this way even 4000 years later, if you want the best quality bronze items then you will need to ensure they are manufactured correctly. Although leaded bronze is the most popular type of bronze to use phosphor bronze is also used in the manufacture of springs and connectors as it has a very low corrosion resistance. Whatever type of bronze you use you can be guaranteed an amazing end result that will last for many years.
