If you could cast aluminum?

Chris, you could try out pouring the molten metal into a mold. Some cast knife guards and knife butt/pommels. For small items, get some cuttle fish bone. It is extremely heat resistant. Usually, you can find the bone in pet stores which have supplies for pet birds.

You can easily carve into the bone with any rudimentary tool from a screw driver to a dull pocket knife. Any design of your choosing, as long as it is appropriately small enough for the cuttlefish bone. You could make a one or two part mold from the cuttle bone. A two part mold is held together with steel wire.

As an experiment, try out carving something organic into the cuttle bone. Maybe something like a salamander shape into a one part mold, thus it is just a 2 dimensional (2D) shape. Get the hang of the one part mold and then try out a two part mold pour to make something 3D. Then move on to green sand casting. When considering organic shapes, think sea shells, an acorn, etc Some ideas for non-organic shapes; think copying chess set pieces or a shape that could be used to fabricate a drawer pull.

Web searching for some of the above terms (cuttlefish+bone+casting -or- green sand+casting) should kick off your journey. Post some pics of where you are now and along the path of progress. A bit of trial & error. You've got a real interesting road ahead.
 
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Look at Nick Wheeler's stuck in the metal thread and figure how to cast some of his different jigs. Hand sanding, handle drilling, pin peening, etc.
 
Since this has come back up, I thought I would add something that gets left out of such threads:

Casting brass, aluminum, nickel, etc. requires good fume extraction and a thought for safety. The fumes from melted metals can sometimes be deadly....especially when melting scrap. Just remember that if there is lots of slag, there is lots of stuff that isn't the metal being melted. Melting brass is the most likely to have hazardous fumes. Smelting in a closed shop.....no matter how big, is a bad idea.

"Good Extraction" isn't just a fan and an open window. It is a dedicated vent hood and fresh air replacement system. Also, depending on where you live, the fumes vented outside your shop may be under regulations.

Just a note, if planning on making objects for turning and ones that will be finished, a flux is required to clean off the dross and cover the melt from oxidation. Without a flux you will be casting in a lot of oxides and crud. Merely scraping will not stop the oxidation, as it just exposes fresh metal to the air. Best to use a flux without fluoride in your setup. Plain borax works fine, or use a mix of anhydrous borax and boric acid. Commercial low-sodium/low-fluoride flux is great, but for your home casting setup, probably not necessary. The flux will not only make the metal cast cleaner, it will make it flow better into the molds. Scrape the dross one last time and toss in a teaspoon of borax and the surface will be like a mirror when you pour.
 
I'd cast some of my whitetail sheds I've found in aluminum. I have a pair I found from a buck we killed the following year that scored 197" that I'd like to cast both his previous years shed in aluminum.

Jay
 
I would cast motorcycle parts since I'm also a bike nut and know how much that stuff costs. Can spend $100 on an anodized gas cap lol. Personally I would probably stick to parts that no one will die if it fails. Gas cap, oil filler cap, flywheel Window plug. Maybe more advanced stuff like intake manifold, velocity stacks, etc...
 
I would cast large contact wheels, especially since you have a lathe to finish turn them, bore bearing pockets etc. Hopefully your lathe will turn 16" OD, 'cause that's the size of wheel I'd cast...
 
It appears that Frank Richtig used cast aluminum handles on lots of his knives.
 
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