Wood Casting

[Don C Peterson]

http://www.beautifullife.info/interi...-hilla-shamia/

This caught my eye. Apparently this is a process of pouring molten aluminum around a log and then cutting it to form a bench/table/etc...

Interesting idea, but I wonder what seasonal movement would do?

[Deane Allinson]

I'm impressed! Nice simple design. You may have a point on the movement but I wouldn't have a clue since it is somewhat case hardened (???) by the molten aluminum, how dry the wood is etc. Nice interesting piece.
Deane

[Mike Henderson]

I applaud the maker's creativity but the finished product does nothing for me.

Mike

[Jim Foster]

+1 on Mike's Comment.

[george wilson]

I hope there is more than charcoal holding the log on!!!

[Jamie Buxton]

I wonder if it is really aluminum. There are silvery metals with much lower melting temperatures than aluminum. Yes, I know that's what the article says, but sometimes the popular press gets the technical stuff wrong.

[george wilson]

The wood got burned up pretty well. Must not be a lower temp alloy. Besides,the prices PER POUND of those lower alloys is very high.

[Jim Koepke]

I applaud the maker's creativity but the finished product does nothing for me.

Mike

A very polite way of presenting my thoughts on these.

New ideas are often not easy to comprehend. They are sometimes difficult to accept. Sometimes they just do not have appeal.

For me, these chunks of wood trapped in aluminum have hit the trifecta.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

This has ETSY written all over it.

I know that new art forms are made by fusing old to new, but...bronc.jpeg

[Jim Belair]

I don't mind the look in general but the bare aluminum doesn't work for me. Maybe if the metal was black, thus accentuating the wood...

[george wilson]

I burned the grass and weeds in our pebble driveway. The result looked something like that furniture. Fortunately,a few good rains will get rid of the blackened remains of the grass and weeds. Now,I smell like burned weeds.

[Don C Peterson]

Yeah, I think it's interesting but not exactly my cup o tea. I suspect these were designed by someone who has no idea that wood isn't a stable material. He or she was probably going for pure aesthetics...but missed the mark on making something beautiful, and instead wound up with something merely interesting.

[Wes Grass]

I think if it actually had some style it could be attractive. But it's too blocky for my tastes. The metal filling the cracks is pretty cool though.

I remember my dad casting a lead weight to balance out one of his model airplanes when I was a kid. Had to fit under the engine inside the cowl. He carved a pocket in the end of a piece of wood and nailed a piece of plywood across the end to close it off. I was surprised by how much the lead charred the mold, but the part came out looking pretty good.

[Charles Wiggins]

When I was in grad school a couple of guys experimented with this type of thing but they were using dimensional lumber, not logs. They didn't stick with it long enough to develop an aesthetic and some of their "joints" were a bit wiggly where too much wood smoldered away, but they did demonstrate that it could be done.

George Wilson - If you look at the shots of the underside it appears that they may have cut channels across the log to key the aluminum into the log. Plus you have the instances where the metal ran into the cracks. It would be relatively easy to create voids and undercuts in the log before preparing it for casting to lock the two materials together mechanically.

Jamie Buxton - Several aluminum alloys melt at under 800 degrees. Having seen this done with scavenged scrap aluminum and various hardwoods I can certainly believe that aluminum is what they're using. And the finished product certainly looks right.

What gets me is that none of the foundry workers are wearing eye protection. Aluminum is not as bad as higher temp metals, but in it's molten state it does give of infrared and UV rays that will ruin your eyes over time. And the shot of the dude standing close by in shorts and tennis shoes?!? I know a dude who had to have foot surgery because a tiny bit of molten aluminum spilled on his tennis shoe. It didn't burn through the top like you'd expect. It rolled off the tongue into the shoe and underneath his toes and the steam from the sweat cooked his skin off.

[Mike Null]

The design obviously isn't for everybody but I'm one who likes it very much. I find it artistic, functional and unique. I would also expect it to have a longer life than any of us.