Forging Process

Ohio History



Making a Coaster

Just what goes into the process of turning a lump of aluminum into a shiny, intricately-carved coaster? It was all spelled out in this display at the Forge. We start in the lower left-hand corner, where a craftsman cuts a 3x8-foot flat sheet of aluminum into small pieces. A steel die design is imprinted onto each piece by an air-driven hammer. The pieces get so stretched they have to be reshaped by another hammer. Next, a coloring solution is applied to turn the whole picture black (lower right corner) and then buffed off with steel wool so only the details are offset by black (middle lefthand sample).

 

After that's done, the pieces are cut into their final shapes and the edges are hammered flat and smooth. Finally, moving to the top row, the pieces are shaped into nice curved coasters. After being polished and wrapped in plastic, these coasters are ready for sale.