Casting mould

Founding is one of the oldest techniques for working non-ferrous metals, already known to the Sumerians and Egyptians several thousand years before Christ. It reached a high level, especially in ancient Greece. The oldest traces of founding in Poland date back to the Bronze Age (1700-700 BC). There are several methods of manufacturing metal objects, such as elements of armament, ornaments, and tools, which generally, in terms of results, can be divided into individual and serial products. One of them is the lost wax method. In the first stage, the manufacturer made a model of the object from wax. Then, he covered it with suitably prepared clay, leaving an opening for the metal to be poured in, and dried it. He heated lumps of metal in a crucible and then poured the liquid alloy into the clay mould. Under the influence of the temperature, the wax melted, giving way to the metal. Once it cooled down, the maker would break the clay mould and start the final operations, i.e. smoothing and polishing. Only one object could be obtained by this method. Casting moulds made of clay or "soft" rock material, like sandstone or soapstone, could be used many times, and the same objects could be obtained from one mould. Casting moulds were divided into one-piece and two-piece ones. Castings made from them still had to be smoothed and polished. The so-called casting seams, i.e. excess metal concentrated on the edges, were also eliminated more or less carefully. In the early Middle Ages, one-piece moulds were used mainly to make jewellery.

Anna Bogumiła Kowalska