for this video I’m going to show you how
to convert a few fistfuls of empty
bullet casings into a decorative set of
multi-purpose paper weights using a bit
of styrofoam a little ingenuity and a
whole lot of firepower to start this
project you might want to check the
legalities of making these artfully
disguised paperweights where you are
brass knuckles are banned in quite a few
places and if that’s the case where you
live then don’t make your knuckles out
of brass
all right let’s kick things off with a
few handfuls of bullet shells I salvaged
these brass casings from a local
shooting range so there aren’t any
bullets in them you can tell the primers
been fired as well which is important
now let’s fire up the mini metal foundry
I showed you how to make in a previous
project and toss the empty shells inside
to get them warming up now a lot of
people have asked whether this
improvised backyard foundry can actually
get hot enough to melt brass and the
answer is yeah time out brass no problem
in fact you can melt copper silver and
even gold without any trouble at all and
the best part is you can do it on
propane propane burns clean costless and
melts metal way faster than charcoal
does but you do need a specially
designed jet torch to balance the fueled
air ratios and make it work properly
this is the design I came up with and
I’ll show you how to make this gasps
blaster torch in another project video
now it’s only been about eight minutes
but peeking inside the foundry you can
see that amazingly the Processing’s have
already melted down and liquefied
completely that’s really impressive
considering the melting point of brass
is around 1700 degrees Fahrenheit and
the foundry was cold when we started
less than 10 minutes ago the liquid
metal is bubbling because brass is a
mixture of copper and zinc and at least
temperatures the zinc is starting to
boil and vaporize right out of the mix
we don’t really want that to happen but
luckily there’s an easy way to stop it I
went to the dollar store and picked up a
bottle of cockroach killer which you can
see is actually just 100% boric acid if
we sprinkle a generous amount of the
white powder into the soup of molten
metal we can sit back and watch it do
the dirty work for us Ora Cassatt helps
clean the metals by absorbing impurities
and helping prevent new oxide layers
from forming on the surface and if you
put it in before you fire up the foundry
it’ll melt your metal even faster and
help keep the zinc from boiling off as
well okay the crucibles full and
everything’s completely liquefied but
before we pour the metal it’s a good
idea to scrape any gunk off the top and
clean it up a bit I typically use a pair
of old steel tongs for skimming the slag
but you can use anything you want as
long as
made of steel and you don’t ever plan on
using it for anything else I went ahead
and poured these liquefied bullet shells
into a beat-up old muffin tray then ngoc
thien gets out and let them cool into a
stack of mini brass biscuits now to
transform these heavy metal muffins into
fistfuls of defensive jewelry we’ll need
a Styrofoam cutting template like this
one I made in Photoshop if you want a
copy just check the description and
download it for free
glue the paper template to two layers of
dollars to our foam board then carefully
cut it all out a cool trick to cutting
the finger holes is to simply heat one
of the leftover casings and push it
straight into the foam with just a touch
you’ll see it melts perfect circle’s all
by itself an even better way to slice
foam is with a hot wire foam cutter like
this one I made from cheap and commonly
available materials
this styro-slicer’ uses electricity to
quickly and accurately trace the edges
of paper templates without cutting the
paper itself that means you can use
styrofoam to make just about anything
you can think of so watch for how to
build the styro-slicer’ in another
project video okay now that we’ve got
our foam knuckles carved out the next
step is to glue two styrofoam risers to
either side of the base and bury it in a
bucket of sand I filled a small trash
bin half full of commonplace and then
gently nestled the foam knuckles down
into the loose layer on the top from
here all we need to do is add a bit more
sand to fill the bucket the rest of the
way then give it a little shake so the
sand levels itself out exposing the foam
risers at the top now we’re going to
need a way to funnel the streams of
molten metal into the foam risers so try
packing a little wet sand on top then
shaping it into little craters a couple
inches deep do one for each side and
with that finished it’s time to
transform our styrofoam investment into
solid brass remelt the brass then
carefully pour the glowing hot liquid
into one of the craters where you can
see the extreme heat vaporizes the foam
in an instant this allows liquid metal
to flow down and fill all the empty
spaces and if you quickly and carefully
pour the other side as well you’ll have
a much better chance of success on the
first try the metal only needs around
five to ten minutes to cool down so feel
free to pull it out and take a look just
be careful not to touch it because it’s
still extremely hot I cooled mine in a
bucket of water then chopped the risers
off with a hacksaw and just like that
we’ve got ourselves a crude but very
cool looking brass casting now just for
fun I wondered how this thing would look
cleaned up a bit so I clapped it my
bench vise and worked it over a few
times with metal files and some
grain sandpaper and bam there it is just
like that we’ve got ourselves a smooth
and shiny brass paw which for some
reason feels really comfortable and
strangely empowering this piece of
defensive jewelry has a really nice
weight to it because it was designed to
fit my hand it really does feel amazing
but it’s important to note these aren’t
intended to be used as weapons instead I
like to think of them more as
multifunctional paperweights buff to a
mirror finish and design to occupy my
workspace as dangerously elegant decor
now just to push the boundaries a little
further I stopped by an alternative
clothing store and picked up a spike
studded choker collar so I guess you
could say things are getting pretty
serious let’s unscrew six of the
aluminum spikes and screw them into the
brass workpiece instead just to make the
whole thing look absolutely mental the
six holes were drilled using a 5/32 inch
bit then tapped with a number 1032
thread so I could secure each of the
metal spikes tightly to the brass it’s
beautiful it’s dangerous and it’s
incredibly durable and to go one step
further I went ahead and made another
one the exact same way well now you know
how to transform a few handfuls of scrap
bullet casings into a custom pair of
fancy and dangerously decorative solid
brass paperweights they are a lot of
work to make but the feeling of creation
and accomplishment is all worth it by
the way if you’re up for another
challenge try making my mini Master
Sword I cast this golden sword from
styrofoam as well and you can find the
template for how to make it in another
project video well that’s it for now if
you liked this project perhaps you’ll
like some of my others check them out at
the king of random calm hey guys I hope
you learn something new or at least saw
something you like thank you so much for
watching and sharing my videos that is
exactly why you were the best now if
you’re in the mood to see another
project video just click here to go back
one or here to go forward you can also
see some my other favorite projects by
clicking on any of these if clicking the
screen isn’t working just look down in
the description I’ve put all the links
down there as well including links to
some my favorite playlists thanks again
for watching sharing and supporting my
videos and I’ll see you in the next one
talk to you then
[Music]
you
to convert a few fistfuls of empty
bullet casings into a decorative set of
multi-purpose paper weights using a bit
of styrofoam a little ingenuity and a
whole lot of firepower to start this
project you might want to check the
legalities of making these artfully
disguised paperweights where you are
brass knuckles are banned in quite a few
places and if that’s the case where you
live then don’t make your knuckles out
of brass
all right let’s kick things off with a
few handfuls of bullet shells I salvaged
these brass casings from a local
shooting range so there aren’t any
bullets in them you can tell the primers
been fired as well which is important
now let’s fire up the mini metal foundry
I showed you how to make in a previous
project and toss the empty shells inside
to get them warming up now a lot of
people have asked whether this
improvised backyard foundry can actually
get hot enough to melt brass and the
answer is yeah time out brass no problem
in fact you can melt copper silver and
even gold without any trouble at all and
the best part is you can do it on
propane propane burns clean costless and
melts metal way faster than charcoal
does but you do need a specially
designed jet torch to balance the fueled
air ratios and make it work properly
this is the design I came up with and
I’ll show you how to make this gasps
blaster torch in another project video
now it’s only been about eight minutes
but peeking inside the foundry you can
see that amazingly the Processing’s have
already melted down and liquefied
completely that’s really impressive
considering the melting point of brass
is around 1700 degrees Fahrenheit and
the foundry was cold when we started
less than 10 minutes ago the liquid
metal is bubbling because brass is a
mixture of copper and zinc and at least
temperatures the zinc is starting to
boil and vaporize right out of the mix
we don’t really want that to happen but
luckily there’s an easy way to stop it I
went to the dollar store and picked up a
bottle of cockroach killer which you can
see is actually just 100% boric acid if
we sprinkle a generous amount of the
white powder into the soup of molten
metal we can sit back and watch it do
the dirty work for us Ora Cassatt helps
clean the metals by absorbing impurities
and helping prevent new oxide layers
from forming on the surface and if you
put it in before you fire up the foundry
it’ll melt your metal even faster and
help keep the zinc from boiling off as
well okay the crucibles full and
everything’s completely liquefied but
before we pour the metal it’s a good
idea to scrape any gunk off the top and
clean it up a bit I typically use a pair
of old steel tongs for skimming the slag
but you can use anything you want as
long as
made of steel and you don’t ever plan on
using it for anything else I went ahead
and poured these liquefied bullet shells
into a beat-up old muffin tray then ngoc
thien gets out and let them cool into a
stack of mini brass biscuits now to
transform these heavy metal muffins into
fistfuls of defensive jewelry we’ll need
a Styrofoam cutting template like this
one I made in Photoshop if you want a
copy just check the description and
download it for free
glue the paper template to two layers of
dollars to our foam board then carefully
cut it all out a cool trick to cutting
the finger holes is to simply heat one
of the leftover casings and push it
straight into the foam with just a touch
you’ll see it melts perfect circle’s all
by itself an even better way to slice
foam is with a hot wire foam cutter like
this one I made from cheap and commonly
available materials
this styro-slicer’ uses electricity to
quickly and accurately trace the edges
of paper templates without cutting the
paper itself that means you can use
styrofoam to make just about anything
you can think of so watch for how to
build the styro-slicer’ in another
project video okay now that we’ve got
our foam knuckles carved out the next
step is to glue two styrofoam risers to
either side of the base and bury it in a
bucket of sand I filled a small trash
bin half full of commonplace and then
gently nestled the foam knuckles down
into the loose layer on the top from
here all we need to do is add a bit more
sand to fill the bucket the rest of the
way then give it a little shake so the
sand levels itself out exposing the foam
risers at the top now we’re going to
need a way to funnel the streams of
molten metal into the foam risers so try
packing a little wet sand on top then
shaping it into little craters a couple
inches deep do one for each side and
with that finished it’s time to
transform our styrofoam investment into
solid brass remelt the brass then
carefully pour the glowing hot liquid
into one of the craters where you can
see the extreme heat vaporizes the foam
in an instant this allows liquid metal
to flow down and fill all the empty
spaces and if you quickly and carefully
pour the other side as well you’ll have
a much better chance of success on the
first try the metal only needs around
five to ten minutes to cool down so feel
free to pull it out and take a look just
be careful not to touch it because it’s
still extremely hot I cooled mine in a
bucket of water then chopped the risers
off with a hacksaw and just like that
we’ve got ourselves a crude but very
cool looking brass casting now just for
fun I wondered how this thing would look
cleaned up a bit so I clapped it my
bench vise and worked it over a few
times with metal files and some
grain sandpaper and bam there it is just
like that we’ve got ourselves a smooth
and shiny brass paw which for some
reason feels really comfortable and
strangely empowering this piece of
defensive jewelry has a really nice
weight to it because it was designed to
fit my hand it really does feel amazing
but it’s important to note these aren’t
intended to be used as weapons instead I
like to think of them more as
multifunctional paperweights buff to a
mirror finish and design to occupy my
workspace as dangerously elegant decor
now just to push the boundaries a little
further I stopped by an alternative
clothing store and picked up a spike
studded choker collar so I guess you
could say things are getting pretty
serious let’s unscrew six of the
aluminum spikes and screw them into the
brass workpiece instead just to make the
whole thing look absolutely mental the
six holes were drilled using a 5/32 inch
bit then tapped with a number 1032
thread so I could secure each of the
metal spikes tightly to the brass it’s
beautiful it’s dangerous and it’s
incredibly durable and to go one step
further I went ahead and made another
one the exact same way well now you know
how to transform a few handfuls of scrap
bullet casings into a custom pair of
fancy and dangerously decorative solid
brass paperweights they are a lot of
work to make but the feeling of creation
and accomplishment is all worth it by
the way if you’re up for another
challenge try making my mini Master
Sword I cast this golden sword from
styrofoam as well and you can find the
template for how to make it in another
project video well that’s it for now if
you liked this project perhaps you’ll
like some of my others check them out at
the king of random calm hey guys I hope
you learn something new or at least saw
something you like thank you so much for
watching and sharing my videos that is
exactly why you were the best now if
you’re in the mood to see another
project video just click here to go back
one or here to go forward you can also
see some my other favorite projects by
clicking on any of these if clicking the
screen isn’t working just look down in
the description I’ve put all the links
down there as well including links to
some my favorite playlists thanks again
for watching sharing and supporting my
videos and I’ll see you in the next one
talk to you then
[Music]
you
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