I poured some pewter fittings on a knife and thought someone might like to see how I did it.
I had the blade ready to finish up, the handle is a piece of walnut round that I had stabilized with nelsonite. I drilled the wood to accept the stick tang and cut some little arrows about 1/8" deep at each end and on each side. You'll need some thin cardboard (an empty cereal box works fine) and some masking tape.
now cut a piece of cardboard slightly larger than you want the finished guard to be, shape it close to what you want the top of the guard to look like and cut a slot in it to slide up on the blade. You want a fairly tight fit on the blade.
Tape the piece you just cut in place on the blade, you want the tape to be on the blade side of the cardboard. Now cut a strip of cardboard wide enough to fit down on the handle and cover the arrow notches. you want to leave space for your bolster too. Position the handle where you want it and tape the strip of cardboard around the wood then trim and tape it to the first piece of cardboard you attached to the blade.
At some point in the void area inside the cardboard mold cut a small hole to attach a sprue to.
Now roll a piece of cardboard into a cone and fit the small end of the cone to the hole you left, you dont want it to extend into the mold... just tape it in place with several layers of tape. Tape everything well so you dont have any leaks in your mold!
Now cut another strip of cardboard and tape it around the butt end of the handle. it doesnt matter how far it extends past the wood as long as its farther than you want the buttcap to be in thickness.
now clamp the knife in a vise with the sprue sticking up so you can pour the pewter safely into it. Melt your pewter and pour your guard first. Gently tapping the handle as you pour will help eliminate air pockets and bubbles.
Please remember to keep everything dry!!! the least bit of moisture in the mold will result in a steam explosion. molten pewter will stick to you and remove skin when you pull it off... that aint fun!
It should look something like this after it cools for a few minutes and you remove the paper mold.
Now cut away the casting sprue and toss it in to remelt with the rest of your pewter. Clamp the blade again with the butt up and level. Pour the buttcap a bit thicker than you want the finished product to be.
Here is mine after some rasping and filing. Its still needs some more work and then I'll finish it up with sandpaper down to about 600 grit.
Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed it!
Randy
I had the blade ready to finish up, the handle is a piece of walnut round that I had stabilized with nelsonite. I drilled the wood to accept the stick tang and cut some little arrows about 1/8" deep at each end and on each side. You'll need some thin cardboard (an empty cereal box works fine) and some masking tape.
now cut a piece of cardboard slightly larger than you want the finished guard to be, shape it close to what you want the top of the guard to look like and cut a slot in it to slide up on the blade. You want a fairly tight fit on the blade.
Tape the piece you just cut in place on the blade, you want the tape to be on the blade side of the cardboard. Now cut a strip of cardboard wide enough to fit down on the handle and cover the arrow notches. you want to leave space for your bolster too. Position the handle where you want it and tape the strip of cardboard around the wood then trim and tape it to the first piece of cardboard you attached to the blade.
At some point in the void area inside the cardboard mold cut a small hole to attach a sprue to.
Now roll a piece of cardboard into a cone and fit the small end of the cone to the hole you left, you dont want it to extend into the mold... just tape it in place with several layers of tape. Tape everything well so you dont have any leaks in your mold!
Now cut another strip of cardboard and tape it around the butt end of the handle. it doesnt matter how far it extends past the wood as long as its farther than you want the buttcap to be in thickness.
now clamp the knife in a vise with the sprue sticking up so you can pour the pewter safely into it. Melt your pewter and pour your guard first. Gently tapping the handle as you pour will help eliminate air pockets and bubbles.
Please remember to keep everything dry!!! the least bit of moisture in the mold will result in a steam explosion. molten pewter will stick to you and remove skin when you pull it off... that aint fun!
It should look something like this after it cools for a few minutes and you remove the paper mold.
Now cut away the casting sprue and toss it in to remelt with the rest of your pewter. Clamp the blade again with the butt up and level. Pour the buttcap a bit thicker than you want the finished product to be.
Here is mine after some rasping and filing. Its still needs some more work and then I'll finish it up with sandpaper down to about 600 grit.
Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed it!
Randy
How do you seal the pewter?
but it also gives some head pressure to the molten pewter to force it into the little crevices. As the pewter cools it shrinks and will pull material down into the piece instead of having a hole where you poured from. 
