white heat castings and foundry

Our Story

Walter Allen

It was 1983 - Piano Tuning, Popular Science, Curiosity, Dave Gingery and Lindsay’s Publications . . . that’s how it all started. Oh, and my sister’s hair dryer, too! Piano tuning because it was a way to make money through music, my main area of interest at the time; Popular Science because I subscribed to it and just loved those little ads in the back of the magazine; curiosity because I loved finding out how things were made and Dave Gingery because he advertised in the back of Popular Science. Oh, and did I mention Dave wrote books . . . lots of them, all about how to make things! The one that really caught my interest was “Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap – The Charcoal Foundry.” This is where my sister’s hair dryer came into the picture - I needed it as an air supply for my furnace. My recollection is that she was not very happy about this!

Piano tuning helped me financially while allowing me the time I needed to explore this captivating new field and still be able to pay my bills . . . well, most of them anyway! My free time, was spent experimenting with the things I learned by reading Dave’s books. I built a small furnace using a 5 gallon metal bucket and some high temperature concrete called refractory as per Dave’s instructions in his $5 book. I was thrilled to be able to melt old aluminum lounge chairs and discarded window panes and that’s exactly what I did for a year or so, just pouring them into little brick-sized ingots using sand molds. Soon after, I scaled up my furnace to about the size of a 40 gallon barrel. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I was asked by local folks if I could make some parts for them. I was having a blast and now I could make money while having fun . . . WOW!

I did sand castings for about eight years and then looked into the lost wax process. After a few years of consulting with suppliers and experimenting with various methods and materials, including RTV rubber molds and plastics, it started coming together. I was now producing high detailed pieces in a wide variety of metals and prototypes in various types of plastics, gypsums and rubber. Mold-making became an integral part of the whole process and I began offering mold-making, casting, prototypes and parts modification. I further refined the end product to include what I refer to as “Shrinkage Compensation.” This became more important when the part had to fit an existing fixed area . . . size does make a difference!

All this gave birth to the cottage industry we are now nurturing, offering the highest detailed castings in a variety of materials including, but not limited to, Cast Iron, Ductile Iron, Bronze, Brass, Aluminum, Pewter, Gypsum, Plastic and RTV rubber. Intrinsically related, we also offer Mold-Making, Parts Modification and the highly desirable Shrinkage Compensation - when it has to fit, 

nothing else works!

My special thanks to Dave Gingery and Lindsay’s Publications. I also want to thank all the good folks who have frequented this service and have seen the value in supporting local industry.

Continuing the tradition I began years ago, Rick Haywood and I proudly present: WHITE HEAT CASTINGS AND FOUNDRY

Rick Haywood

My passions include restoring antique cars and building an operating live steam locomotive from scratch. I have always enjoyed the challenge of taking an old car or truck apart, dismantling every last nut and bolt, and making replacement parts or refurbishing the original. When working with a locomotive, I started from a set of blueprints, made each part, assembling a component from these parts and finally producing a scale model. What a joy! For me, life doesn’t get any better; so when Walter suggested teaming up to make stuff out of hot liquid metals, it was a natural adjunct to what I already enjoyed doing. I simply couldn’t say no to another exciting challenge!