"mark" wrote in message
...
Could a person melt brass or bronze with a oxy welding torch in a
cruxible and pour it in a shallow, crude mold of plaster paris or some
other material? I've been reading about sand cast molds but it looks
like too much of a skill to learn for a small project. Thank you.

Watch out with plaster for casting brass and bronze. You have to "calcine"
the mold or you can have an explosion.

Calcining means heating it in a controlled way until some of the
chemically-combined water is driven off. I'm not talking about free water in
the pores of the plaster; this is about the water that combines chemically
to turn plaster into reconstituted gypsum.

When you calcine plaster it can crack. They (US Gypsum, etc.) make plasters
especially for metal molding. IIRC, they don't recommend them for brass or
bronze, which melt at relatively high temps.

Aside from that, I hope you're really good with a torch. g Silicon bronze
is the easiest of the brasses/bronzes to melt and cast. Yellow brass
separates, and it requires some knowledge and technique.

--
Ed Huntress