A few nights ago I wanted something to do and had the idea to make a bronze roundknife. I do have a similar knife already in steel, but its nearly right angle corners make cutting tight curves rather a bit difficult. So the new knife should have a real use, as well as just being a fun project.The basic plan was to make a rough shape in polycaprolactone, impress it into sand and cast it in bronze made from some scraps found lying around the house,and work out what to do from there, grinding and hammering til. . . .

For simple shapes sandcasting seems prefferable to plaster investment casting, the sand is reusable and can be moulded more easily from a reusable positive, and it avoids the obligate burnout phase so can be done mroe quickly.The surface finish that I have acheived tends to be rather rougher than either soapstone or plaster, but the ease of doing it may make that worth that drawback.The flask I've been using is just two peices of aluminium pipe. The greatest trouble with this is that it makes alignment slig. . . .

With investment casting each cast becomes a significant investment of time, as one must make the model, pour the plaster, and do burnout for each individual cast.For simple shapes this work isn't neccisary, and a simpler two-part mould can suffice.I decided to make a reusable mould from soapstone. Soapstone is a rock composed significantly of talcum. It is so soft it can be scratched with the fingernail, and is easily carved into smooth shapes.Soapstone casting moulds have been discovered in Troy.Cutting an. . . .

In the interests of trying to use up some scrap aluminium I've done a few experiments with mostly metal casting,and for lack of a better idea ended up making some belt buckles.After a brief couple experiments with sand casting I opted to do lost wax in plaster.The basic premise of lost wax casting is that a positive shape is made in wax, and connected by ducts to a funnel or such structure as to facilitate the inflow of metal and outflow of extraneous gasses and such things.After the wax structure is assemb. . . .

Shoe lasts are quite useful when making shoes though not always strictly neccisary.As feet are not all quite exactly alike and a good fit seems to matter for shoes, one wants a set of lasts that are well matched to the person for whom a pair of shoes are being made.This article describes a way I've made a couple of sets of lasts based on existing shoes.Polycaprolactone is a plastic frequently sold under the name polymorph, for about fourty dollars a kilo.Its quite solid and sturdy enough to hammer nails int. . . .

This basic design of leather waterbottle seems to be popular nowadays, although the more I look the more I begin to wonder if it has any great historical basis. Leather water or liquid containers certainly seem to have existed throughout antiquity, but leather, and perhaps especially boiled hardened hollow leather bladders aren't particularly hardy, and their remains not trivially identifiable like shoes.Nevertheless I decided to make one and try it out. Using a peice of cow horn as a spout and two medium w. . . .

Earlier this year I made myself a pair of shoes generally inspired by the shoes of the Romans.I say generally inspired, as I wish to make no strong claims with respect to their accuracy. My desire was to have a decent pair of walking shoes, not a reproduction artifact, nor a historically accurate costume piece,and this design appealed to me as a person with no shoemaking experience and very little leatherworking experience. While mine may not be exactly caligae, for the purpose of this article, I shall call. . . .