Your Door Knocker » Foundry

Not all brass is the same

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:41:47 +0000

The entrance way hardware on your home may seem like a small detail. In reality it is an important consideration.

When deciding on hardware for your home, brass is always a good selection. It is available in many finishes, has a long life and is easily maintained.

Before you purchase, you must be prepared for some surprises, you see, not all brass is the same.

The first thing to be sure of is that your purchase is in fact brass. Modern methods have become quite proficient in plating brass over less expensive metals such and making it look convincingly like the part is made of solid brass . This is especially hard to detect when purchasing packaged items.

Brass is primarily an alloy of copper and zinc. Not only can the proportions of the copper and the zinc be altered, other ingredients such as tin, nickel and or lead may be added in varying proportions to make the finished product cheaper or better suited for a specific job.

This is one of the reasons that the brass valve for your garden hose may not be the same color or texture as the brass that makes up your door knocker. While both are made of brass, the composition of the brass in each product is different.

In our case at Your-Door-Knocker.com, we do not produce water valves, we produce quality ornamental parts such as door knockers. We require brass that is conducive to molding and will machine and finish well. Our parts must stand up well in the outdoors , in direct sunlight and be resistant to the weather. In short our brass is more expensive than the brass used for water valves.

We do not need to be chemists to purchase the correct brass. Brass has been around a long time. Industry standards and specifications have been written and proven worthy. These specifications provide the foundries and the manufacturers with a common language which ensures the correct grade material is being purchased.

There are manufacturers that attempt to lessen the manufacturing cost of their products by altering the chemical makeup of their brass. For example, zinc is cheaper than copper so the higher the zinc content, the cheaper the brass will be. Unfortunately, once the zinc content passes the optimum amount the quality of the finished product will suffer.

For a manufacturer of quality products it is simply not worth it to cut a couple cents per pound from the casting brass cost. While a door knocker made of quality material may cost a bit more, the longevity of the item will certainly make it the better value in the long run.

Foundry Demonstration

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:04:00 +0000

Shayler Engraving and Your-Door-Knocker.com will be conducting an outdoor open air foundry demonstration. It will take place at the 8th annual Charlestown Township Summer Festival, August 7, 2010 from 3:00 – 5:00.

Equipment demonstration and instruction in patterns and mold making will be offered. Weather permitting we will actually melt brass and pour castings on the site.

Location for the event is at the Charlestown Township Park the previous location of the old Charlestown School at the end of Rock Spring Road. This is where Rock Spring Road dead ends into the Ravenna Arsenal and is about 4 miles east of Ravenna, Ohio.

Also at the festival will be lots of eats, a car show, games and more. Please come join us for a pleasant afternoon.

Hope to see you there.

foundry processes

admin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 11:52:30 +0000

Not all of the castings used by Your-Door-Knocker are made in our foundry, but we are making more all the time. All of the door knockers sold by Your-Door-Knocker are made by the sand casting process.

Our experiences in the foundry have really enlightened us.

Like many others, when we thought about a foundry, our mind’s eye immediately pictured a steaming hot crucible pouring red hot molten metal into a mold. That, we imagined, was all that takes place in the foundry.

Granted, the pouring of the metal is probably the most exciting part, but it is a very small part nonetheless. There is a lot of work to do to get to that point.

Before you go to the foundry you need to obtain a pattern to make a mold from. A pattern is a 3D replica of what you want to make. This may be an existing object that you are duplicating or if it is an entirely new part, create a carving of the piece exactly as we want it to be. Most door knockers require at least two of these. One for each part of the finished door knocker.

The next step would be to create a mold. the mold is made in a box like device called a flask. In the flask the sand is packed tightly around the pattern. Once packed the pattern is removed leaving a cavity where the pattern was. The mold is completed by cutting in the sprues and gates so the brass will flow into the cavity.

Before the mold can be made the sand used to make it must be conditioned so it packs tightly around the pattern.

The actual packing of the sand in the mold is where the real work takes place. Experience, skill and planning are the keys to success. This is not the step to rush. If the mold is not correctly made all the other work will be wasted.

Working in a foundry is not easy. You are definitely tired at the end of the day.

Of all the processes we do here at Your-Door-Knocker I find the foundry to be the most satisfying. There is nothing quite like holding the finished door knocker in your hand after all the work is done.

In the foundry

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:55:30 +0000

It has been some time since the last writing. This is because we have been extremely busy bringing our small foundry online.

It has been a bigger job than I anticipated. Each step involved exposed new lessons to be learned. Foundry work can be quite dangerous if done haphazardly. It can be very safe if done properly.

In reality, as with all our processes, the learning curve will never end.

We did not take the easiest route. We started right out casting brass instead of aluminum. Brass casts much hotter than aluminum and requires a more stringent process and safety considerations.

Another factor in the development of our process is that we are not looking to duplicate one or two parts. We are setting up to make 100′s of a particular part. This means that our patterns and tooling must be made to last and when the casting is complete have the least finishing work.

Like engraving, electroplating, and every other process we do in our operations to create our door knocker and door plates, there are many steps involved in the casting of each part. Every step must be performed correctly in the correct order or the final product will not be good.

Our little foundry has presented us with many challenges. It has also created much pride in the successes we have achieved. It is a very specialized foundry designed for the purpose of creating some very special items for our customers.

We do not intend to do all of our products castings here. There is just not enough hours in the day for that. Besides, if we made this a large production foundry it would not be as much fun.

Our castings combined with our nickel and copper plating and engraving capabilities will combine to make some very special items for our customers.

Very soon we will be announcing another YDK door knocker. This one is special as the patterns are being made from my own original carvings.

We will announce it here.

Evolution of our art

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:25:10 +0000

The foundations of our current products are not evolved from new technology. The skills have been around as long as man has been working with metals and wood.

It amazes me each time we go out to melt brass for our products that we are basically using the same processes practiced thousands of years ago in the bronze age.

Fortunately today we do not have to go out and find the ore and develop hot fires for our furnaces. We have a much easier time performing our work but the fact remains that the process is very much the same. Both our ancestors and ourselves melt metal and pour it into molds to make items needed.

Engraving is also an ancient art form some say dates back to the cavemen and the images scratched onto the walls of caves.

More realistically engraving evolved with the ability to work with wood and metal.

I guess that by being an engraver and a foundry man I am attracted to ancient art forms, the culmination of which is our engraved brass door knockers.

Combining engraving and cast brass to make wonderful personalized ornamental items also is not new. Brass has been one of the most popular mediums for engravers for centuries.

We have in our modern times electricity to power buffers and sanders and gasses such as propane and acetylene to make heat.

It is amazing though how much of our work is done with our hands. That is what separates us from the large production companies who only mass produce items.

Each step of our production is performed or processed by a person. I guess that makes the YDK line of products a bit old fashioned.

Making A Brass Door Knocker

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:51:44 +0000

In recent weeks we have been developing a new brass door knocker design in our small foundry. I have been directly involved with the entire process.

The first step was to design the door knocker we wanted to make. In this case it is an inverted urn design about 7-1/2″ tall. Being engravers we wanted 2 large areas where we could do our personalization work.

When we completed our design the pattern had to be made. This is the piece that will be duplicated in the molding process. We carved a detailed door knocker out of wood to serve this purpose. Two pieces were required, one for the clapper and one for the door knocker body.

When the pattern is completed we can make our sand mold. This involves packing sand very tightly into a two part box with the pattern in the middle. When the box is opened and the pattern taken out it leaves a cavity where it was for us to pour our brass into.

Of all the foundry experiences the most exhilarating is the actual pouring of the brass into the mold. Our furnace heats the brass until it melts into a liquid. Once it is liquid it must be heated more to get it hot enough to pour completely filling the cavity left by our pattern in the sand.

At this point the crucible containing our hot brass is lifted out of the furnace using a special handle and gloves. We are talking really hot here. Nearly 2000F.

With great care we pour our liquid brass into the mold.

Now we must wait until the brass solidifies in the mold. When that is done we can break away the sand and there is our part.

If all went well there will be no flow marks or voids in the casting and it can be taken to the finishing department where it will be ground and polished into a finished part.

Over the years I have worked on thousands of brass door knockers. This was the first time I experienced the actual birth of one.

It is hard to describe all this in words. We have added some pictures to the site starting at this page

click here for foundry page

from there you can follow the links at the bottom of the page.

brass door knocker molding

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:18:02 +0000

The brass door knocker selection offered by Your-Door-Knocker is produced in foundries by the sand casting method. This method involves pouring molten brass into a mold made of sand and letting it cool to form a casting.

In our foundry we produce small parts and door knocker components in this manner. We describe this operation at these pages of our site. At The Foundry

This ancient technology is used in many industries producing a large variety of items. Everything from high precision machined parts to plumbing components to ornamental items such as our brass door knockers.

Casting of brass using the sand casting method is an important element in the manufacturing industry. I doubt that any one of us has not had need or use for a cast brass item at some time or another.

Not all of our door knockers are produced in our foundry. It is small and designed for prototyping and very small production runs. Our larger quantities are produced in production foundries that are set up for this type of production.

The foundry operation can be quite dangerous if not done properly. The handling of 1800F to 2000F molten brass is not for the meek of heart. A foundry operation either large or small must be an extremely safety conscience work place.

With proper planning and careful manufacturing methods the foundry like most manufacturing processes can be done by skilled personnel using good equipment.

There are other methods used today to produce some brass door knocker styles but the good old sand casting method is still one of the best.

brass door knocker pattern

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:55:48 +0000

Our experience in the foundry making our brass door knocker didn’t start in the foundry at all. As a matter of fact there is a lot of work to be done before the foundry work can even begin. First of all we need something to cast. We call this the pattern.

It seems that our brass door knocker must first be made out of wood. At least the pattern for it will be.

Our completed door knocker requires two castings. One casting for the body and another for the clapper. We will need a pattern for each casting.

Before we can make a pattern we need to come up with a design. Drawing it out on paper is good, a computer drawing program is better. We need to create a scale drawing that shows what the final product will look like. Every detail that we can imagine should be included in the drawing. This will help us find problems before we begin.

When the drawing is completed we can trace the outline on a piece of wood to be cut out sort of like a silhouette. The rest of the details will need to be carved and filed in until an exact 3-D replica of the part is achieved.

The pattern becomes one of the most important components in the casting process. All the rest of the work creating a quality product depends a good properly made pattern.

It must be strong enough to stand the mold making process. It must be shaped with the proper tapers to exit the mold during preparation. There are a lot of factors that go into getting the pattern just right. It may take a couple trial castings to get all the bugs worked out.

When the pattern is ready we can progress to the next step in making our brass door knocker. Taking it to the mold shop where the sand mold will be made. That is the subject of the next post coming soon.

brass door knockers in the foundry

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:18:12 +0000

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.