All it would take is someone with the skills...

[LatakiaLover]

...to make this concept work for pipes.

I'm not kidding. Insert some "T"-shaped or mushroom-ended studs for the molten aluminum to solidify around and create a permanent lock of the bowl to the shank, and you'd have something remarkable. The Falcon / Kirsten design taken to the next level. The artistic level. Imagine Gotoh or Tokutomi running with this.

Sell all you could make as fast as you could make 'em, I bet.

http://homeli.co.uk/wood-casting-by-hil ... furniture/

[Jthompson1995]

Not sure aluminum is the greatest metal to use since it melts at over 1,200°F and the scorching mentioned in the article may leave you with briar charcoal. She is using much larger pieces of wood. With the small pieces we use, the charring would likely burn up the whole piece during that process.

Pewter, on the other hand, has a much lower melting point and may be workable. I have seen a pen maker cast pewter into a relief he carved into wood and there was no noticeable charring.

[meathod]

I saw this a year or so ago, and have been contemplating possible methods to make this work for pipes ever since.

I went so far as to buy all the materials I need for wet sand casting and everything... The idea is still on the backburner, but maybe one day you'll see me post something similar...

When you really start thinking about it, however, it is not a simple task...

[RadDavis]

Velly intelesting, but shtupid.

Rad

[LatakiaLover]

Velly intelesting, but shtupid.

Who you callin' shtupid, Old Guy?

Don't make me sic my attack dog on you...

[baweaverpipes]

George,
Love that photo! My son and his wife have two doxies and I just sent that photo to the two of them.

[RadDavis]

George, bring it. Your tactical Dachshund doesn't scare me.

Rad

[d.huber]

I've seen some wood blanks cast with colorful acrylics which look pretty cool. I bet something like this used as an accent material would be pretty neat, especially with charring.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[Literaryworkshop]

Makes me wonder if you could fill voids in briar with something like silver solder?

[KurtHuhn]

If you're going to try this, I suggest lead free solder (aka pewter). Whatever your local hardware store has will do fine. I've actually used wood molds for casting things like pommels and hand guards. The wood gets cooked and "toasted", but at about 550 degrees F, it doesn't suffer too much. The molds are limited to only a handful of uses, however. I haven't used the stuff for pipes due to the weight.