I’ve had a play with making casting moulds for pewter… cut/engraved in 1.5mm birch ply. Turned out perfect first time! Three layers: backplate, cutout and then engraving. Cutout was glued to backplate. Dust with talc, clamp and pour. Cut off the sprues and 'tis done.
Very cool!
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Now that is really cool! I’ve been trying pewter casting with high temperature silicone molds, but can’t get the hang of getting a good mold (bubbles and such). I really like the idea of using laser cut wood. If you have any more tips, I’d love to know them!
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I wasn’t happy with silicone moulds either, which is why I was so pleased with this method.
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Huh 1.5mm birch? Where you find that?
Does the ply survive the process without burning?
From the jewelry trade. bubbles are the bane of casting and where possible the liquid is put into a vacuum chamber that makes all bubbles big and float away. For those without a vacuum chamber, the material is carefully painted on to the model first, and after that, the bubbles don’t matter as much. 
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Pic shows mould after use, so no burning 
I get my thin birch ply from laserply.co.uk
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Hobby stores, craft stores like Michaels and Joann, also Amazon (and I’m sure others.) I bought a small stash when the local Joann was closing (moving.) They sell 1/32 as well.
It’s common for RC and miniatures.
1/16” Baltic was what I was hoping to see. This is probably just a 1/16 birch like revell or something.
Yes, it’s regular birch. Midwest is the brand I have.
Very fun. Turned out great!
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Very cool. Did you consider making it double sided? What did you use for the release agent to disassemble?
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Wow, that’s pretty good for talc.
Didn’t it see it on first read.
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That’s really cool! More stuff to try!
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FWIW, I’ve done a several pewter casting in wood molds I made with my GF and they all just plopped right out with any release.
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Awesome work Neil! I started playing with GF molds too and I love what you came up with.
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Try preheating your molds. Cooks out any H2O and helps a lot for me.
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Another rabbit hole! Nice work. Gotta our this on the list to try!
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