Lava in Buckets

So. I have joined the Pour team at school, and in preparation for the GA State Iron Pour we have safety training!

The noobs didn't get to pour today, only watch. So I got awesome pictures! I also shot some videos and will upload those at some point.

Anyway, the first step before we set up the furnace and things is to actually have a mold to practice on.

My class and I had some we'd made around dry ceramic clay, but they didn't slide out like we'd planned, so we had to break them out.

Dumb!

Then, we bind them up and put the pour cup and vents on them. You have to make sure that both the mold and the cup are flush against each other when you glue them together. The video will show some of the iron leaking out of gaps in some of the molds. (But not mine!)

Then it's time to heat up the furnace!

Then at a certain point we add the small pieces of iron and fuel (called coke) and the metal melts down...

...then you pour it in the buckets!

The pros went first and poured some of the scratch blocks.

Here's the molds where the iron leaked out the sides all over the place. And that's when the people with the shovels cover the mess up with sand.

And eventually all of the molds are filled and the bottom of the furnace is dropped out to begin clean up.

So basically it's all very scary and hot and there's lava.

On the 3rd is when my fellow novices and I get to suit up and give it a shot, which means that on the 10th at GA State I will only have done it all once before when we show off in front of everybody.

I'll get that video uploaded.

...

(Later that night: the video is here!)

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