Fruit Bowls and Phosphorus (Part 1)

Discussion in 'Sand Casting' started by Oldarm, Jul 30, 2021.

  1. Oldarm

    Oldarm Silver

    I was reading in one of the posts about the effects of adding phosphorus to cast iron and I cant locate the conversation now otherwise I would reply to it. I'll take a chance that it may be read here anyway.
    I recently sent my Nephew in the UK an example of what I still consider to be the height of the foundryman's skills. I have decided to share the contents of my e-mail to him, with a few domestic edits, explaining my interest in the piece. I have also dug up a few, phew!, old snaps of life in the foundry in the "good old days". Makes me shudder a little now. Anyway here we go. My only request is that you avoid any criticism of my actions. I am aware of ALL my shortcomings. John




    This fruit dish was cast by The Coalbrookdale Company about 1846 and is described in an article on Coalbrookdale Wares in The Art Union magazineissued on 1 August 1846. Other small-scale domestic items produced by the firm included umbrella stands and caskets.

    Design and Designing.

    The design for this fruit dish was first produced about 1820 by the distinguished German architect and designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) for the Prussian Royal Foundry. It uses the same frieze of hippocamps and mermen that appear on the iron balustrade for the Schlossbrucke in Berlin (1819-24).

    Design and Manufacture.

    Schinkel designed several types of fruit dishes and garden furniture reusing elements of his designs in a variety of wares. Coalbrookdale seems to have pirated several of his designs and to have copied other works made by the Berlin foundry, which reputedly produced the finest cast iron in Europe. The slightly blurred quality of the casting suggests that a mould was taken from an original die (sic), and a casting then produced. This design was still being manufactured in 1877 and featured in the Coalbrookdale catalogue that year. The fruit dish has been covered in a gold wash to make it more attractive.


    So goes the narrative for the example of the fruit bowl held by the Victoria and Albert Museum.

    I can only deduce from the above that the V&A are holding a poor copy of the dish as the true Coalbrookdale bowls are held in the highest esteem for detail and finish by every specialist I have ever met not only in the antique world but also in the foundry industry. I have a “German” version of the bowl and it doesn’t hold a candle to a true Coalbrookdale example.

    I'll have to continue this in another chapter. I had no idea that I had exceeded 10,000 characters! I get carried away sometimes, I know....
    John



    1 Coalbrookdale Fruit Bowl from V&A.jpg
     
  2. Oldarm

    Oldarm Silver

    Here we go.

    Hi Wilf, I found this early in the morning on E-Bay and think that you may like to have it as a “keep forever” piece of history. It is an original piece from the Coalbrookdale Foundry which is now closed as you may know. Now there are many copycat pieces around from the very crude to the not too bad at all but I think that what you have here is the real thing. First things first. If you could pick up your handy magnet and touch the plate with it. If it is iron the magnet will stick to it, if there is no attraction then you have an incredibly rare piece cast in brass. The vast majority were cast in iron but the odd “foreigner” made in brass crept out of the factory. The iron versions were frequently given a brass “wash” to emulate brass. Whichever type you have, it represents the pinnacle of any foundryman’s skills.

    There are examples of the fruitbowls in the Abraham Darby Museum in Coalbrookdale, along with many other fine examples of the founders craft, which you may wish to explore when this Covid thing loosens up.

    Apart from my admiration of the ability of anyone being able to cast anything as fine as what you see here my paths with the fruitbowl have taken a few turns and I will give a little history here. Dates may be a little out but generally hold true.


    Ironbridge 1966 (so I am about 20). My Father and I had set up a small workshop/foundry in the old drill hall/ armoury/pyjama factory on St. Luke’s Road in Ironbridge. Here, we had started to make cast aluminium garden furniture and other decorative items. Access to the factory was through a large sliding door which we invariably left open for ventilation. The door opened onto St. Luke’s Road and during the course of the day it was not at all unusual to look up from the bench to see somebody in the doorway watching the activities in the shop. These visits even extended to local ladies dropping off scones and cakes to sustain us in our efforts. All very nice and friendly to be honest. I even had one retired gentleman who presented me with his, and his Father’s, old moulding tools from their days at Coalbrookdale.

    One day I happened to look up and saw an unfamiliar face, an older slightly built gent in a waistcoat, showing keen interest in what was going on. He was still there after several minutes so I went over to have a chat with him.

    Now I am going to digress a little here but it is very important. When we first set up camp in Ironbridge in the early 60’s, one of the hardest tasks was to pick up on the local dialect. If you think that the Scottish and Geordie tongue is tough, think Ironbridge, Madeley and Broseley all locked in a Middle Ages accent. “Thou ‘ist, thee ‘bist, ‘wusna, ‘cusna” if you get the idea. Ironbridge and Madeley have had much dilution in the last 50 years and the dialect, while not exactly neutral, is much easier for a stranger to understand. Broseley I think is still worth exploring just for the exposure to the native tongue.

    So, here I am chatting to Jack, I think his last name was Onions, in the doorway, guessing and deciphering every word while looking for body language “tells”. Eventually I clued in and it turned out that he was a moulder at Coalbrookdale. Not only was he a moulder, but he was the last moulder in “The Dale” who was able to cast Fruitbowls, Last Supper plaques and similar very fine iron ware. These wares he went on to tell me were no longer made as a commercial item but were only produced as presentation pieces for visiting dignitaries and retirement gifts. Towards the end of our chat he made the offer to show me how he made these pieces down at Coalbrookdale and the next morning would be fine if I could make it? Make it?? You bet! Just tell “George the gate” you are here to see me and he will show you to my shop.

    It went like clockwork. In I went to Jack’s very private domain and in short order he was showing me all the master patterns and equipment he used in the making of his pieces. “Dost thee fancy ‘avin a go John?”

    “Not half, Jack”

    “Up to lummle fost thin”

    I had no idea what was going on but he hefted an old, old wooden wheelbarrow and spade and off we marched up into the woods at the back of the factory. A little puff later we came to a small glade and he spritely started to shovel loam into the barrow. Now I’m thinking “lummle” “loam” “Loam Hole!” Got it! No need to pretend I knew anymore. But why loam? All was revealed when we got back to his workshop where some of the dry loam was added, but not measured, to the sand in a small muller which must have been as old as the wheelbarrow. A muller is a machine which at once rolls and turns the sand over before it is used for making a mould. A little water is added as it mixes. You don’t want it too wet nor too dry. Most older moulders can assess the correct mix by touch. This observation is made only on reflection as the age of any foundry equipment was never assessed of course. If it did the job….

    As things churned away he went on to explain the need for the loam. How it aids tremendously in the need for the iron to breath as it courses its way into all the little nooks and crannies of fine castings. If you think of it as hundreds of thousands of fine straws mixed into the sand. The fact that there was an unlimited supply of the stuff right next to the foundry went hand in hand with the very reason for the foundry to be there in the first place. A topic well worth examining but briefly the need for:

    1. An ample supply of iron ore.

    2. An ample supply of limestone.

    3. An ample supply of fireclay.

    4. An ample supply of water.

    5. An ample supply of wood (charcoal).

    6. Good access to shipping and markets. (River Severn on the doorstep).

    7. And, as luck would have it a massive coalfield for coking. The development the use of coke for smelting purposes changed everything.

    8. Let us not forget a handy supply of loam too!

    It seems that when conditions are “right” anything can be done. The industrial history of The Ironbridge Gorge is an incredibly wonderful and inspiring story. Well worth studying. I was asked once where I would like to be if I could wind the clock back. I’m still torn between lying in a Lincolnshire hayfield at the end of a runway and watching the Lancasters leave (and return). Or, planting myself in Coalbrookdale at the back end of the 18th. Century.

    Still torn!

    Anyway, back to the fruitbowl. Jack showed me how he used what was called an “oddside”. This was a very hard plaster male moulding which was contained in a steel moulding box identical to the cope and drag boxes to be used. His master pattern, which was made of iron, was placed onto the plaster oddside and rammed up. This in itself was done with a lovely touch, I could tell, even as a lad I could sense the confidence in his handling of that soft and silky sand mixed with his fibrous “lum”. The boxes were rolled over and the oddside lifted off. The pattern stayed down in a perfectly jointed fashion and the performance repeated on the back half. Try as I may, I can’t recall the gating system. I’ve racked my brain but all is blank!

    I did not see the pour but he did explain that phosphorous was added to the iron at the last moment. This rendered the iron extremely fluid but at the expense of making it extremely hard and brittle. As a demonstration of this he handed me a scrap bowl and a small hammer. “Hit it” said Jack. I only tapped it as it happened and it shattered into many pieces! A good hands on demonstration of the fragility of a high phosphorous casting.

    Although I never met Jack again the story of the Fruit Bowl did not end there. On the way back to my little workshop I could not help but wonder if we could not make a metal die for them and cast them in our shop?

    Why not? I’ve sorted some very old snaps out which I’ll let you have. These are a bit of a mixture including the fruit bowl and my effort at it. Also a few embarrassing shots of me flouting all the Health and Safety rules in my youthful exuberance! You may remember me telling you of those naughty days. Here is the proof!

    I hope that this is not too overpowering for you Wilf but it only takes me into my 20’s. Much more fun to come if you are up for it?

    Speak to you soon.


    All the best, Uncle John.


    2 My first attempt at a Fruitbowl.jpg 3 Close up of detail small Fruitbowl.jpg 4 Casting steel 1962..jpg 5 Me posing circa 1966.jpg 6 The Last Supper cast in Mazak 3 1966.jpg 7 Pouring iron circa 1973.jpg
     
  3. amber foundry

    amber foundry Copper

    What an interesting post and great pictures. Thank you
     
  4. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Very cool. The penny for scale shows the intricacy of this bowl. Casting it while certainly impressive, pales compared to the guy who actually had to carve the original either in wax or some wood pattern! Incredible artistry!

    Can one of the mods combine these two threads please.
    John, you can continue in the same thread if a post exceeds the 10k character count. Just reply to yourself in the thread. Easy!
     
  5. Oldarm

    Oldarm Silver

     
  6. Oldarm

    Oldarm Silver

    I can make a half decent casting but I am still in a dream with threads and posts and replies and patches and pasting etc.
    Never too old to learn though.

    Agree wholeheartedly regarding the making of the patterns. 200 years ago too! Can you imagine building the data for a 3D generator?
     
  7. Chazza

    Chazza Silver

    Wonderful article, thank you for posting,

    Cheers Charlie
     
  8. Again, thanks for posting this description. Was that last 1973 colour photo at a training college? I'm interested in the furnace and blower, I wish I could take a closer look at it.
     
  9. DaveZ

    DaveZ Copper

    Great stuff. Thank you.
     
  10. Oldarm

    Oldarm Silver

    Glad you enjoyed it!
    John
     
  11. Oldarm

    Oldarm Silver

    No, it was the little iron foundry we put in to make our iron tooling. Using a combination of furnaces we could pour up to 350lbs if I recall.
    All the furnaces were driven by diesel through a very simple trumpet venturi head with the air controlled by a butterfly style wing (if I recall). Our first efforts were all homemade.
    Just thinking about it, I doubt if any training college would have allowed me to pour in a dress shirt, cotton gloves and, probably, suede shoes. Shudder!
    John
     
  12. Ironsides

    Ironsides Silver

    Chazza likes this.
  13. Oldarm

    Oldarm Silver

  14. Chazza

    Chazza Silver


  15. There's a couple of crucible stockists in Western Australia thanks to the mining industry, over on the East Coast, Skamol are the stockists for Morgan crucibles. I've also bought Morgan silica fibre insulation blocks (cubic foot) off Gumtree from Perth which was a great deal at the time: they can be peeled in layers for furnace insulation. There also may be a local dealer for Refractech castable refractory over there too, they are much better value than the competition.
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2021
    Chazza likes this.
  16. Chazza

    Chazza Silver

    Thanks Mark, all useful things to know.

    In the '80's and '90's in Perth there were still small foundries around and foundry suppliers. Now it is really hard to find things like resin-coated sand.

    Matthews Industrial in Perth are quite good but they cater mainly to gold smelters.
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2021
  17. Ironsides

    Ironsides Silver

    Refractory and ceramics used to sell aluminium grain refiner alloys but now they have changed their name to skamol and I have not been there since that has happened. Cast metal services is another in Melbourne. When I started casting 36 years ago there so many suppliers you could take your pick but now it is like a dessert.
     
  18. Billy Elmore

    Billy Elmore Silver

    We have lost much of the artistry and hands on skill sets that were once used to create these fine pieces. Awesome craftmanship! So much detailed carving! Im sure someone hand craved these to make the master.
     
  19. Oldarm

    Oldarm Silver

    Absolutely sure that the patterns were hand carved. Remember 200 years ago too. Also we have to remember that the patternmaker had to have an understanding of the casting processes, the abilities of the foundryman and the metals available to him.
    I think I mentioned the little reject/scrap pile where bad 'uns ended up. I think this demonstrates that even after what was then 150 years of production they were still on the "edge" of perfecting the casting. Vulcan must have been smiling!
    John
     
    Tobho Mott and Billy Elmore like this.

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