cast butt plate

[joe seeley]

here is a cast silver butt plate that I just finished doing a recutt on. this was a rough looking casting to start with, and I cleaned it all up and cutt the engraving into it to get rid of all of the cast marks and make it appear nice and sharp. if you look closely you can still see an occasional void, or imperfection that I wasn't able to cut out

I guess I can't take credit for the design but it's a vast improvement over the rough casting with chunks of sand still clinging to it.

Anyone got any suggestions for doing this any better, faster, easier

 

[monk]

doesn't need to be any better ! easier- hmmmm, leonardo has a magic machine ! i doubt it will outdo your work though ! jm2cw you'd need a couple or 3 million bucks just for the program !

 

[RT Bit and Spur]

Joe
It motivates me to try something like that on a pair of spurs. I love how you can make go off in the distance in such a thin space. Thanks for posting.
Rod

 

[ED DELORGE]

Hello Joe, that looks very nice. Did you do the origional or did you buy that some where?

Ed

 

[Ed Davet]

Hi Joe,
Look into Investment Casting for finer detail. Also called "lost wax casting".
Ed

 

[joe seeley]

I didn't do the casting, this butt plate was provided bu the client. I have no idea who did the casting.
my client said that he found it in a junk box at a gun show quite some time ago.
I agree a lost wax casting should be much easier to clean up.

joe

 

[KSnyder]

Joe, I use both types building muzzleloaders by the time you remove parting lines etc. there is little difference in the clean up time imho.
Sand cast will certainly have inclusions, as well as investment cast in some cases. I just finished a gun with investment parts & the trigger guard and butt plate had inclusions. I don't try to fill them in or cover them up cuz if you look at old guns with these mounts you will see the flaws & pits.
Your buttplate looks like it came from some old lever gun if I had to guess.
You did a right proper job restoring it, customer should be real happy.
Kent

 

[ddushane]

I love it Joe! Thanks for posting, Dwayne