Divest
After cooling for several hours (we leave the pieces until Monday morning, but they can be broken out earlier); the ceramic shell is carefully broken away, revealing the bronze sculpture within. The ceramic shell is one of the only things in the foundry we cannot recycle, so the broken pieces must be discarded. As the ceramic shell is taken off the casting with an air hammer, sledge hammer, hand chisel or hand hammer, the bronze looks dark and has a coating of carbon on its surface.

Everything that was in wax is now perfectly replicated in bronze, including the sprues, vents and the original sculpture. The solid sprues and vents must now be cut off the sculpture with a carbon arc. The sprues and vents are recycled in subsequent pours. The bronze casting is then moved to the sandblast room or cabinet depending on its size and fine aluminum oxide particles are blased under air pressure to remove the
last traces of ceramic shell and carbon that adheres to the bronze. This creates a
clean surface for the metal chaser to work with.

This is often the entry level position in the foundry and may be referred to as “the rock pile”.