Casting Iron at East Carolina
A reaction mold spouting flames.
It has been a wild ride these past few days, from helping my fiancé with his mold preparation to waking up at sunrise to help load and unload the kiln, Saturday brought the return of East Carolina University’s annual Halloween Iron Pour.
Because of the high temperatures required to melt the iron and the emissions caused from the process, the creation of iron castings is limited to once per semester at ECU, and is a big spectacle for all those who come to watch, and all those involved. Before the pour can even begin, students and visiting artists must break down old bathtubs, sinks, and other donated scrap iron into pieces small enough to melt in the furnace – 50 pounds at a time. Once the furnace is heated to over 2500 degrees they can begin to “charge” it – first with coke, a sort of carbon “supercharcoal,” and then with the 50 pound charges of iron. Once the furnace is ready to go, the fun begins – as the sun sets over Greenville the molten metal glows brightly as it’s poured into the molds, including some that have been rigged with wood to create sparks for a spectacular fireworks effect.
Pour Team Sign-Up Board
Every time the furnace is “full” of iron that is melted and ready to go, shouts go out for the pour team as students decked out in leather protective gear – often painted with a stencil or symbol to identify themselves – make their way to the furnace to collect the iron to be put in the molds. Each job is equally as important to the team in order for the process to go as smoothly and safely as possible.
The furnace is first tapped as a spike is hammered into the blocked tap hole to let the liquid metal flow freely out. Once the ladle is full, a second person jams a wad of clay known as a bot that will soon harden to keep the iron from continuing to spew out. The skimmer then cleans any excess debris off of the top of the metal and the ladle is carried off by a two-man team (sometimes more!) to be poured into the molds. As one person is aiming it to pour, the other donks – helping to keep it steady while the metal is being tipped out into the mold. And just in case it spills out anywhere else or a mold cracks, someone stands by to shovel sand on top of the metal so that it doesn’t pose a danger to the pour team – or anyone else nearby.
This was my third time attending an ECU iron pour, and I was fortunate enough this year to participate by helping out on shovel for a short period of time, and it was exciting to be right up close in the action – the entire process could be considered dangerous but is executed so perfectly by the ECU students, making the casting process itself as much of an art as the finished pieces. Special thanks to graduate student Austin Sheppard for clearing up a few facts for this post!
For more photos, check out the Gallery from this event.
