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.

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.

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.