[Bell Historians] Lost Wax Taylor bells

[Chris Pickford]

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Don't we need to be a bit wary of assuming that bells with copious decorati=
on and figures of saints etc were all cast by the lost wax method? It's qu=
ite possible to apply very detailed ornamentation using dies tapped into th=
e outer mould.=20=20

Is there any better way of establishing with certainly how the moulds were =
made? One thing, of course, is that lost wax castings tend to be smoother =
and better finished - but it's easy to make subjective judgments and make a=
ssumptions here.

CP
----- Original Message -----=20
From: David Bryant=20
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com=20
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 10:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Lost Wax Taylor bells


From: "Michael Wilby" <michael_wilby at y...>

> As far as Surfleet goes, bells 3 - 6 are definitely
> lost wax; effigies can be seen on the waists of the
> bells in photographs on the 12s site. As David says,
> we're not sure about the 2 trebles of 12 - these may
> well not be lost wax castings, though it is
> interesting to note that they were cast complete with
> flange tops.

And so far as I know, they're the last example of Taylor's casting
flange-topped front end bells of higher numbered rings in this period - t=
hey
did it on and off from the turn of the century intermittently when castin=
g
tens and twelves (and occastionally eights). Most bells with them were ca=
st
during the 1920s.

Recently Andrew Higson has cast a few bells with flanges. An extra treble
each for Newcastle and Leicester St Margaret, to match existing bells, an=
d
the two trebles of ten cast last year for St Mary Magdalene Oxford all ha=
ve
them. The Oxford bells were cast with them as it was judged a better
solution than to drill through their thick shoulders to bolt them to thei=
r
headstocks. I've got some photos of them somewhere, which I can stick on =
the
pictures page if anyone's interested.

Back to lost wax, I should have said for those who haven't come across an=
y
such bells that they can usually be identified by the fact that they have
more ornamentation than the average bell, often taking the form of figure=
s
of saints on the waist of the bell, and ornate borders around the soundbo=
w
and other places. The ornamentation usually stands well proud of the bell=
,
muck more so than with a bell cast using conventional moulding methods. I=
f
anyone wants to see a picture I have a number of the Lincoln trebles, whi=
ch
I can stick on the photos page.

David


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