Casting Scrap Aluminium

[Malcolm Parker]

My good friend the late Stan Whinham had searched for years for a hub cap for one of his vintage Humbers.   Stan decided to cast one out of scrap aluminium.   Having made the mould he banked up the open fire in the lounge, opened the under-floor draught and sat his crucible in the glowing coke.   When the scrap had melted he decided to skim the dross off the top using a piece of bent steel strip.  This resulted in a major pyrotechnical display of sparks and flames upon which Stan's wife Betty, who bore more than a passing resemblance to Thora Hird, came into the lounge and gave him a major rollocking.  Suffice to say that the next day Stan was in B and Q buying paint and the next few days were spent redecorating the bungalow rather than playing in his garage.  He told me that he may have had some scrap magnesium amongst the aluminium he decided to melt.   The irony is that at the next autojumble he attended he found one of the elusive Humber hub caps!
Happy days!