Finally, the moment of truth has arrived. Did the mold lock design work? Are the two halves of the mold aligned, are the molds resting in place or held apart enough to generate significant flash? In this case, these molds were not even glued. Instead we weighted them with a steel block and attached a pouring cup after using a 3/4″ drill to make a hole to the parting line. The pouring is captured on video below for your review.
The pour went well, the material you see is a eutectic iron which is not the material of choice for making knives. However, this material is very fluid and can fill many details. If our mold halves are misaligned or likely to have significant gaps, we should see it with this pour. Shakeout was very satisfying and pictured below. The metal took exactly the shape we hoped for.
I wanted to use these to demonstrate how the final steel knife could look so I made a handle using parachute cord and wrapping the handle. There were a few areas were the mold left more roughness than desired. Therefore, we will play around with a mold coating before pouring the steel version. Anyway, I’m content with the process documented here and I’ll debating the next pattern for us to make in the lab. Please let me know you comments and thoughts about this process.
Dr Monroe Thoughts 