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Wageningen flat axe
Original
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Found: Wageningen, Netherlands
Age: 2100 B.C. This axe is found together with a dagger, halberd, bracelets, stone axe and various other bits of metal. The axe only has 1.6% tin and some small amounts of arsenic, antimony, silver and nickle. Instead of adding these other elements, I added a little more tin to get the same amount of copper. |
Model
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The model to make the mould is made from clay and sand. |
Mould
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Material: clay & sand
The mould is made from clay and sand and well fired. |
Casting result
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It took a few attempts, but eventually I got a good axe from the mould. Due to the high copper contents, the melting temperature was higher. This made melting all of the metal more difficult. Eventually after taking more and more time, the metal was fully liquid, and I could cast a full axe. One small bit of charcoal came along, but the hole can be worked away by hammering and grinding. |
Finishing
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The casting feed and flash have been removed for the most part. The cutting edge has been hammered thin, with one time annealing in between. By this the pit caused by the charcoal has been worked away from the most part. The axe now needs to be sharpened, and polished smooth and shiny. The sides have also been finished in such a way that the same bend is created as in the original. This proved to require a minimal amount of material removal. |
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The ax has been ground and hammered smooth. The cutting edge still has to be ground sharp, and the entire surface polished. |
Finished axe
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The axe has been ground further, and finished by polishing it with a smooth stone. |