You may think that making timber patterns is time consuming, difficult, and perhaps not worth the effort, you may even prefer to use foam patterns. The lost foam casting technique certainly has it's place in the commercial and hobby foundry, but there are problems associated with lost foam. And if you are experiencing problems with lost foam, it could be due to not having a proper understanding of how traditional timber patterns are made, in fact, if you put the question to a skilled pattern maker i.e,"Should I use foam when starting out" he would most likely tell you: "That it's probably not a good idea to use the lost foam method as a novice, that is, not until you fully understand the basics of making timber patterns, there are so many variables with the lost foam casting method which will produce a bad casting which you certainly won't experience when using a timber pattern rammed up in green sand".

Website owner Foundry pattern making materials 18/01/2018

I really enjoyed reading the 'Pattern Making Workshop Practice' ebook. As a newbie I'd always assumed that pattern making was basically a "no-brainer" affair. Naively I used to think that patterns were fairly simple and done in two boxes. Nothing could've been further from the truth! It now absolutely amazes me what can be accomplished with complex pattern making!
Thanks to your insightful ebook I now know how to deduce what pattern configuration to use basically from any casting work that needs doing! Compound flasks, soldiers, pattern sweeping, balance cores etc, are all terms and techniques that I now understand. I look forward to applying these principles to my own metal casting. Thanks again for a wonderful book and the preface in the book 'Knowledge is Power' certainly is an appropriate adage as my pattern making knowledge has been improved ten-fold.
Thank you Colin,

Gordon Bland. New Zealand. Customer 18/01/2018

This book provides a good overview to pattern making within the context of the foundry. The principles still apply today and whilst it would appear to be aimed at the novice, there is much for the experienced. Being well illustrated with cross sectional line drawings, the spirit of the book appears to be that virtually any shape is castable. This is an easy to read book which I think will be a useful addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in metal casting. Although some of the techniques may be dated, it contains much information which provides inspiration and be a source of ideas and work around for solving casting problems.

David Churchward. England. 18/01/2018