A Day of Metal Forging

There's not much in materials science that looks cooler than blazingly, glowingly hot metal being worked. The spray of sparks, the glow just beneath the cooled surface, the molten metal pouring away just draws the eyes and heart. There's a reason why I picked the background image for the blog that I did.

And this video has it all - plus great, huge fires that flare up when the aluminum is first added (check 2:01, 2:10, even 2:30...wow!). I can't imagine sticking my hands that close over the furnace like he does at 3:10.

And what the heck is that crucible made of?

Thanks for the disclaimer at the end. I was tempted to ramp my oven up to 2000F and give this a whirl.