Lost Wax Process

The making of a bell starts with the inside and the outside drawing of the bell shape on a metallic or a wooden board, called a strickle board.  These two shapes define the bell profile. All the musical characteristics of a bell, i.e., note accuracy, sound, depth, and tonal richness are determined by its shape.

The strickle board, once mounted on a pivot, is used to build the bell mold, which is composed of three well defined superimposed parts:

The Core

The core, also called the inside mold of the bell, is made of sand and bricks covered with clay.

The False Bell

The false bell, made with sand, has exactly the same dimensions, diameter, height, thickness and profile as the real bell. It is coated with a thin layer of soft wax, then decorated with design garlands, ornamentations and inscriptions. All letters and decorations are made of wax and are in relief on the false bell.

The Cope

The cope, which is the outside part of the mold, is built up by the foundry craftsmen on the false bell; it is made of several coats of clay reinforced by hemp.

When everything is dry, the inside of the core is heated. The wax melts and thus drains out from the mold, creating in this way an indentation, (hollow relief), in the cope for the decorations and inscriptions.

The bronze, an alloy of approximately 78% copper and 22% tin, is melted and checked after five hours of heating. When it reaches 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, the molten metal is poured into the mold through a channel through which the gas flames also escape.

A few days later, the burnt mold is lifted up and broken. A black and gray bell appears. This process is called the lost wax process; it is followed up by careful sandblasting of the larger remaining particles of the mold, and a fine polish which brings out the lustrous beauty of the bronze bell.