Brass Work - Aligarh
Aligarh is famous for the people who make metal casts by melting the metal in the molten stage and casting them to the required forms and shapes. The raw material are brought from the nearby places which is weighed as per the material to be molted of the required weight and length.
Sand making, It is a stage where the, sand collected from the neighborhood are filtered with the local made meshes, fine sand is mixed with the waste sugarcane juice and mixed well with a wooden piece and also mixed with the bear hands to obtain the fine mixture of sand. Also sand already heated can be used in filling the frame of the metal casting frames.
Sand mixture more black in color used for the outer parts of the surface of the metal cast where the metal part doesn’t come much in contact. Fresh Sand mixture kept in the bucket are generally used where the metal surface comes in contact and the rest of the part is filled with other sand mixture.
Craftsmen then fits in the sand by stamping and filling the mixture to the maximum into it through his feet and the extra sand mixture is rolled out through a rod to obtain the level(even) surface.
To obtain this the first stage is the mold and it is made where the pattern is positioned in the mold, the material is filled to the hollow capacity within it. Mold generally has two parts one is bottom (drag) and the other top known as cope. As the impressions are made the parting line doesn’t allow the mold to be open. Chalk powder is spread on the surface of sand mixture held together for impressions.
Generally for melting alloy crucibles are preferred, blower helps in supporting to provide the required amount of heat to the material. As the molten metal hardens central part is broken to remove the mold and cooled for some time.
Open parts in the material are then soldered by melting with brass rod dipped in the white mixture (solder flux), it is chiseled with different types of chisels to engrave the carvings on to it. It is rolled on a bed of saw dust wiped with a cloth to obtain a shining surface by which the carved places are rectified if it engraving is not to the required design pattern. The surface of the material is then buffed to obtain a lustrous surface thereby giving a good blemish.
The material is then immersed in a series of liquid material (liquids) to obtain the smooth and lustrous surface. Firstly dipped in a container of plain water, then in a container of chemical mixture of Sodium and sulphur (Gandag locally called). To which plain water is poured on it, and immersed completely minimum of two times in the plain water. Next it is immersed in the solution of borax and water to obtain the lustrous surface and dried completely. Where ever the edges are protruding or uneven those edges are filed to obtain a smooth finish.
