brass door knockers in the foundry

The posts have been scarce lately as I have been spending a good deal of time in the foundry with the development of our latest brass door knocker design.

Two years ago I would have never imagined actually creating our own castings. Until now we have sourced our castings from production foundries many located in another country. This created many logistical problems as well as long lead times. It would take months from the time of an order until they actually arrived here.

The foundry we are developing is small by most standards. We are building it for the sole purpose of making some of our brass door knockers, brass door plates and associated small hardware. This will not be a large production shop but instead a very specialized work area with a specific purpose. The development and production of high quality unique Your-Door-Knocker products. The brass door knocker we are currently working on will be the first one produced here.

The process of creating a brass door knocker from scratch involves much more than the hot furnace melting metal that most people picture in their minds eye. In reality it is a four step process that includes pattern development, mold making, casting and finally finishing. Each step is quite involved and necessary to the development of a quality product.

This is not new technology. The process itself is over 2000 years old but it is still as exciting to this old man as each sunrise. There is nothing quite like the exhilaration of pouring 1800 degree molten metal into a sand mold to form a casting.

Over the next series of posts I will attempt to describe the process of building a brass door knocker from scratch.

I am finding this process very exciting as I hope you will too.