I have searched the archives but could get no answer does any body on
the forum have any on the lost wax casting of Ferris
metals? where does one buy a small amount of iron? I feel B.H.P. would
not be to involved ! hope that as all ways there is a answer out there
regards Russell W
McColough in Sydney Australia
Hi Russell,
You might want to look into the ArtMetal listgroup/Web site. They
count as their members metalsmiths from a broader spectrum than
jewelry and non-ferrous metals. Lots of blacksmiths and what I term
“ironmongers.” Another great community… but of course it doesn’t
hold a candle to Orchid! 
All the best,
Dave
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio and
Carolina Artisans’ Gallery
Charlotte, NC (USA)
dave@sebaste.com mailto:dave@sebaste.com
http://www.CarolinaArtisans.com http://www.CarolinaArtisans.com
Good day to you Mr. McCough, my name is Richard Lucas and I am the
owner of Lucas Dental Mfg. Co.
My company just happens to manufacture Spring Driven Centrifugal
Casting Machines (lost wax process) specifically for the Jewelry
Industry, with a flask capacity of up to 3-1/2" dia. X 5" long which
we currently sell directly to the Orchid community.
As part of our manufacturing process, we wind up with scrap cast iron
from the casting arm which we have no use for other than selling it
back to the foundry.
If this is what you are looking for, I would be more than happy to
send you some, (no charge) for the iron, but there would be a shipping
charge.
You can contact me at: Lucadent@Webtv.net
Sincerely,
Richard Lucas…
russell mccolough wrote:
I have searched the archives but could get no answer does any body on the forum have any on the lost wax casting of Ferris metals? where does one buy a small amount of iron? I feel B.H.P. would not be to involved ! hope that as all ways there is a answer out there regards Russell W McColough in Sydney Australia
Hi Russell,
Go to your local welding supply place and ask for cast Iron welding
rod. It is very clean and will cast well. However, it is quite
brittle. You can cast heavy jewelry and pieces that will not get a lot
of abuse. You will need to use a high temp investment with Iron as
well as when casting Stainless Steel. John J.A.Henkel Co.,Inc.
Moldmaking Casting Finishing
I have searched the archives but could get no answer does any body on the forum have any on the lost wax casting of Ferris metals? where does one buy a small amount of iron? I feel B.H.P. would not be to involved ! hope that as all ways there is a answer out there regards Russell W McColough in Sydney Australia
Russell and other Orchidites,
I have taken the liberty of sending on the ArtMetal
site. There is a very good searchable archive at the web site and if
you cannot find what you need there, you can post a message that goes
out to the subscribed list, or you can subscribe and post the
question(s) directly to the list. It is often an active list so if
you sign on, be pre paired to get an increase in your mail. My #1
list and Orchid is #2 but I am an Art Bronze caster so the ArtMetal
site has more for my work. Hope this is of help!
John Dach
The ArtMetal site:
It’s usually rewarding to visit the local “junk-yard.” One can find a
wide array of scrap metal. It is normally sold to whomever for the
cost of scrap…pennies a pound, whatever it is going for at the time.
Jimmy
Snowbird-Enterprises
Mr. Russell McColough in Sydney Australia and all you orchidites out
there,
In my reply to you yesterday regarding scrap iron, I neglected to
point out that the scrap iron that I offered to you was actually
malleable iron scrap, not gray iron which is very brittle as opposed
to malleable iron which is somewhat flexible, and the offer still
stands.
As always, you can contact me at: Lucadent@webtv.net or by
telephone at: (718) 789-2604 or by fax at: (718) 789-3819
Sincerely, Richard Lucas…
Hi Russell, I havn’t done any casting of ferrus metals, but whenever
I’ve needed small amounts of anything like brass or pewter, etc.or
even larger amounts of copper, I go to the scrap dealers. Sometimes
this secondhand stuff can be exactly what you need and it is a good
price, too. I’m sure they would have iron as they seem to have most
things most of the time. Good luck ( and no, I wouldn’t try BHP,
either 
) from Christine in Sth Aust.
Hi Russell, I’ve done a bit with iron, but really, really pure iron is
almost impossible to get. I ended up using horseshoe nails which are
about as close to pure iron as I could get. Theoretically, pure iron
won’t rust - it just stays that nice grey colour. If you wanted to
cast it, Wynn Sher at Chemgold or Barry Sadlier at Palloys would be
the best blokes to get advice from. Its melting point would probably
require platinum-type investment material, but I can’t see why someone
as expert as Wynn wouldn’t be able to cast it. I’ve only hand
fabricated it, but it was a delight to work - just don’t mix it up
with your platinum lemel!
Historically, it is an interesting jewellery metal. The Romans
thought highly of it as a jewellery material, using it in sponsoria
rings worn by men and women. I suspect that when iron was first
discovered and used as a metal, jewellery would have been one of its
many uses. After the Bastille was stormed during the French
Revolution, parts of its iron-mongery were melted down and worn as
patriotic jewellery by many citizens. Iron jewellery was a popular
outcome of the Industrial Revolution, and it sparked a huge cottage
industry in England and Wales where individual families produced iron
jewellery. In 1813, when the Prussians rose up against the French,
many Prussian ladies gave up their jewellery to pay for the war effort
and were given iron jewellery in return. Some of these jewels are in
collections to this day, engraved “gold gab ich fur Eisen” (I gave
gold for iron). Happy New Year, mate, Rex
Ferris, if a metal containing iron is meany, is spelled ferreous. KPK
“Jimmy T. willingham” wrote:
G’day; As there has been quite a little length of thread on the
subject of ferrous metals and iron in particular, I thought my two
penn’orth might be of interest. One of our correspondents in Orchid
mentioned that pure iron was very rare. Many years ago I used to work
at the British Iron and Steel Research Association in England. It
dawned on one of our people that nobody knew the physical and other
properties of really pure iron, meaning 99.9999%. So first they had
to make some. They precipitated iron oxide from ultra pure iron salts,
and used very pure lime and other chemicals to smelt it. But the final
purification was done in a special chamber containing an inert gas at
very low pressure. The almost pure iron was held in space - literally
levitated - by magnets and heated to melting by means of microwaves.
I remember seeing a brilliantly glowing ball of molten iron about 1
1/2 inches diameter (seen through a dark blue window made of welding
goggle glass) spinning in space. The business was very tricky, for
iron is very reactive and contamination is extremely difficult to
avoid, so it couldn’t be refined in a crucible. The spin rate had to
be carefully controlled too, for if it spun too fast, centripetal
force would have sprayed it over the inside of the chamber. Then the
ultra pure iron had to have special storage to avoid contamination.
In the end, one of the researchers told me that when all the costs
were added up, including equipment and salaries, that iron was worth
about a hundred times the price of the same quantity of gold!
Cheers,
John Burgess of Mapua Nelson NZ