Pouring Pewter Inlay

[DWFII]

There might be a way to do it...I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. But I don't think pouring pewter against wood is going to be successful. I found that when pouring a bolster against wood, the residual moisture in the wood coming into contact with the molten pewter created steam, and that, in turn, created problems...with a capital "P". The steam tried to vent through the pewter causing bubbles and preventing a tight seating of the pewter against the wood.

Better to pour the pewter into a plaster (?) mold that is the same shape and size of your proposed inlay and then fit it into the carved wood rebate. Pewter is soft enough that it can be burnished/pushed into any undercut recess in the wood pretty successfully, if with some effort.

Again, I'm not an expert so take all this with a grain of salt.

That said, the whole idea has got my own creative juices flowing. Thanks for that.

[Kerr the Walker]

Interesting.....hadn't thought of the moisture in the wood being a problem. I wonder if baking out the piece before pouring would help dry out the wood at all....

This is more of a creative exercise and experiment than anything else. I've got a whole mess of scrap lying around that I can play with before I actually start pouring molten metal onto any final products.

Happy to help in the creative juices dept.

There might be a way to do it...I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. But I don't think pouring pewter against wood is going to be successful. I found that when pouring a bolster against wood, the residual moisture in the wood coming into contact with the molten pewter created steam, and that, in turn, created problems...with a capital "P". The steam tried to vent through the pewter causing bubbles and preventing a tight seating of the pewter against the wood.

Better to pour the pewter into a plaster (?) mold that is the same shape and size of your proposed inlay and then fit it into the carved wood rebate. Pewter is soft enough that it can be burnished/pushed into any undercut recess in the wood pretty successfully, if with some effort.

Again, I'm not an expert so take all this with a grain of salt.

That said, the whole idea has got my own creative juices flowing. Thanks for that.