Mass Production at the Webmaster Foundry.....

Watch out, Henry Ford - the production line is moving fast. Now if I can just get the quality control down.

Costa Rica! Are you developing beachfront property there....I visited years ago - what a beautiful place, especially the interior (cloud forests, etc.)

I actually did think of molding the dogs footprints into something - that one (Rocky) is my daughters dog and I just made those two for her and her fiance. She was really excited when I gave them to her - she said I should make them with various breeds and sell 'em on eBay!

Let's see - I have 20,000 lbs of Extendaflues - if I melt them and create 1 lb statues that well for $30 each, I can make........

As far as woodstoves - well, maybe after a while I can cast some fireplace implements, but the heavy duty stuff will have to wait until (and if) I ever graduate to IRON.

Ha, the extendaflues are in the attic and in a self-storage! Worth $1 + a lb in scrap, or $10. a pound as chimney caps (or much more as dogs).

We flew to northern Costa Rica (Liberia) direct from Philly - 4 1/2 hours which was not bad. That airport is in a great location - from the airport you can see the top of the central peaks, and yet it is only 20 minutes to the beach.
Turns out we (US) built that airport as part of the Iran-Contra thing or something like that. As you know, Nicaragua is the next country north!

The Pacific coast there is quite barren in the winter - folks told me the atlantic coast is more carribean-like, but I've never been there. Definitely workshirt weather up in the clouds. If you get a chance, go bathe in the springs at Arneal.
http://www.tabacon.com/

Has to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet - and you can pick how hot you want....the futher upstream toward the volcano, the hotter it is.

Ah, steamers - technical explanation.....

hollow casting requires a special part called a "core" which is actually a resin interior that is burned out once the metal is poured - maybe someday I'll try this....
http://www.efunda.com/processes/metal_processing/sand_casting_intro.cfm

I can try a 2 or more piece steamer - in other words, somwhat of an open container with a lid. But the book said that most people starting with metal pouring try something too hard and then give up on the hobby.....so maybe I will take some baby steps. Next little project will be something with two-sides molded - this is much harder than something with a flat side like what I have done so far.