INDUSTRY NEWS
Letterbox What a whiff of nostalgia (“What’s
Visit MODERN CASTING’s Late-Breaking Metalcasting News at
www.moderncasting.com
Metalcasting Starts as Toy, Becomes Career
Old Could Be New Again,” January editorial)! As a youngster in the late 1930s, my cousin received a set like the Home Foundry Quality Casting Set for his birthday. Since his mother was
not keen on turning her kitchen into a casting facility, we used an old cook stove at my parents’ home, where we melted the lead and cast the figures. For melt stock, we scavenged the local rifle range for spent slugs and checked
with the telephone linemen for scraps left from cable splicing. I never felt this was where my future
would be, as I was more interested in photography in high school. I worked briefly as an apprentice to a portrait and commercial photographer. This led me to answer an ad for someone with photography knowledge. It turned out to be in a metalcasting lab, operating an emission spectrogaph, which used 35 mm film to record the density of the spectral lines of the elements. This job exposed me to the world
of cast metals. I soon furthered my education and was well on the way to my 50-plus years in a most interesting business. Metalcasting led me through a series of duties from union labor, management and self-employment as a casting and casting supply salesman. Along the way, I worked with a number of unique and fascinating people. CHUCK SMITH (RETIRED)
Selling the Home Caster Today I read the January editorial with in-
terest. My memories of metalcasting go back to the late 30s or early 40s, when I received a “Kaster-Kit” for Christmas. For the day, you might say the toy
was “automated.” The electric melting furnace was elevated above a die-clos- ing mechanism and had a bottom pour stopper. The molds were of horses and soldiers. The alloy was primarily lead, but since we didn’t know any better, I lived through it without adverse effects. That introduction sparked 40-plus
years of active participation in the steel casting industry beginning in 1958. Your suggestions for marketing to to-
day’s manufacturing challenged youth are great. Just find something that: 1. will not burn the user no matter how it’s handled;
2. will not contaminate the air; 3. will only produce politically cor-
rect products; 4. can be operated by computer or remote from the couch.
A. STUBBS DAVIS
A. STUBBS DAVIS INTERNATIONAL LLC GREEN VALLEY, ARIZ.
16 MODERN CASTING / February 2010
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