Practical Casting: A Studio Reference, Revised Edition

I bought this book as a required text for my first metal-casting class, and it is worth every penny! McCreight's "Complete Metal Smith," which I bought for a prior metal arts course, offers a terrific overview of the casting process, but this book really gets into the details and step-by-step processes for creating a model, proper investing, even how to tell if your metal is the right temperature for optimum casting. His illustrations are very clear and easy to follow; he offers charts for the melting temperatures of different metals; and each chapter is broken down to really spell out what's going on in each step of the casting process. McCreight manages to make a process that can seem overwhelming at first, totally approachable. I also love that it comes with a sheet of tabs to label each chapter - clearly he knows some metal artists are very OCD about these things :)

Informative book. Easy to follow and understand. I felt confident in trying the processes. A great value for the price!

I know video tutorials, etc. are available on the internet, but I find having a book in front of me one of the best ways for me to learn. Mr. McCreight clearly knows his stuff. I make jewelry but have never done any casting. My husband bought me this book for Christmas and I found it extremely detailed and useful for a beginner. I think more advanced practitioners would find this book useful as well. Mr. McCreight has another book as well called "The Complete Metalsmith: An Illustrated Handbook" which I also received for Christmas and this book is similarly well-done. The one caveat to my reviews -- I have not practiced most of the techniques yet in either book because I just haven't had time -- but I feel like the instructions are thorough enough I would feel pretty confident taking them on.

A very helpful guide for a beginner like myself. Only ran across a few entries which required a second read to grasp idea that was being conveyed.

This book, like McCreight's other books on working metals, divides the subject into easily digestible portions and treats each topic separately (often on a separate page) with a short discussion. Line drawings help clarify important points. The focus is on the tools, materials, and techniques of lost wax casting, but also covers sand casting, the use of flexible molds, using the services of a foundry, and other topics of concern to the studio metalsmith. It's a great reference tool if you need to look up the proper sequence to use in a particular technique, or a formula for making your own crucibles. Learning to cast almost requires hands-on instruction, and this book alone cannot provide that. But if you're already familiar with casting, it's a wonderful reference.

I think all the 4 and 5 star reviews give a good indication of the literary and illustration quality of this book. But the books construction is above average also. It is fairly compact at 9 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 3/4 inches, 153 pages, and hard-covered with a spiral binding internally. This mean the book can be tossed around your shop without worry of damaging the valuable pages. The internal spiral binding allows the pages to lay absolutely flat on your workbench. I can follow the directions as I'm executing. Brilliant! Text size is just a little smaller than average, so some may need their reading glasses. Overall a very well thought out learning and reference guide. Highly recommended.

I bought this book looking for a few inside tips on how to craft some bronze planes for my work. What I got was an encyclopedic collection of easy to read, simply explained processes for anything I could think of (and many things I didn't think of!) regarding the various ways of casting of metal objects. Especially useful to the novice are the safety tips as this can be a hazardous endeavor. This is a "must read" for the beginner and a great reference for those who already know their stuff!

I bought a vacuum casting set that doesn't really come with comprehensive instructions, so I picked up this book. I have other Tim McCreight books, and have always thought they were well-written. One thing I like about this book is he gives tips on making homemade tools...for example, a wax pen is about $200-400, and he has a tip on how to make your own for about $20. It covers different types of casting, too. Very pleased...a good studio reference.