Preparing Petrobond or Delft oil bonded casting sand. (Removing lumps.)

Preparing Petrobond or Delft oil bonded casting sand. (Removing lumps.) In this video I show you an idea that I have come up with and how I use a metal tea strainer to remove lumps from oil bonded casting sand.
It only takes a little pressure from my thumb to push the casting sand through the tea strainer but I did have to reinforce the steel mesh fixing with copper wire as when I first tried it, I pushed the mesh out of its fixings! (Remember the strainer was only made to take tea leaves and water, not brute force).
Don't try and use a plastic tea strainer, it wont be strong enough.
This type of sand tends to stick together in very rigid lumps after going through the casting preparation process which involves heavy compaction.
I want to say a special thank you to Tom Didcott, proprietor of Riverside Silver jewellery, for taking the time to talk to me about his pewter castings and inspiring me to give pewter casting a go. Thanks Tom, it's a lot of fun!.
Tom exclusively makes his work, pewter, silver, and gold, by hand with his creations being inspired by and created in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland.
Please take the time to visit Tom’s website at riversidesilver.co.uk to see his work.
I've added the pipers who were at the Highland games at Gordon Castel on Sunday 19th of May 2024 at the end of this video for you to see and hear. I think there were 7 or 8 separate bands playing as a single massed band there, very moving.
Well done to all of you players.
Do let me know if you have found this video helpful or interesting.
Kind Regards . . . Andy

[@victoryfirst2878]

Andy, the trick with drilling gummy material is to use beeswax on the cutting drill ends. Really works fella. Your idea of pushing the sand through the tea strainer works very well. That really removes the lumps Sir.
Would you mind telling me about your learning with the HHO generator you worked on some time ago ??
LIke the video fella for sure. Keep on Keeping on And !! Peace v

[@AllAmericanFiveRadio]

That was very interesting. What a great idea to use a tea straner to reuse the compound. Enjoyed this very much Andy.
All the best Rick.

[@AndyDaviesByTheSea]

Hi Rick, after casting I was breaking down the sand for reuse the same as everyone else on RUclips but that wasn’t very satisfactory. I hope that this method helps other folks. The sand takes on a lovely fluffy nature, and as I say in the video it feels like heavy cotton wool and it’s really good to use. Kind regards . . . Andy