Making Our Lucia Flatware

The mold for Lucia dinner forks and spoons. All MATCH flatware is made by casting pewter around stainless steel working ends. No adhesive is used.

The stainless steel ends are placed in the mold. Note how the thin shaft of the steel leading to the handle is surrounded by open space. This space, and that of the handle, will be filled with molten pewter during casting.

Both parts of the mold are placed in the casting machine, and the mold is clamped together before closing the machine. Note the thin channels leading from the central depression of the mold to the ends of the of the spaces that will become handles of the forks and spoons.

The machine is closed, and the mold spins at very high speed. Molten pewter poured into the center of the spinning mold is drawn by centrifugal force into the open spaces of the mold. This forms the handles and surrounds the thin shafts of the steel forks and spoons creating a single, unified piece of flatware.

After the correct amount of pewter is poured, and a period of cooling, the mold is opened, and a wheel of unfinished Lucia flatware is carefully removed.

Here, one can see the shape of the central core of the mold. This is the result of the molten pwter being poured into the middle of the mold.

The forks and spoons are snipped from the core. The core will be melted down and recycled.

Newly 'freed' forks and spoons. Note the sharp ends of the handles and evidence of excess pewter around the stainless steel closest to the handles.

The first stage of finishing the pewter on a polishing wheel.

Filing is done by hand to remove any traces of excess pewter and sharpen thedetails of the pewter handle.

Polishing the stainless steel part of a Lucia fork.

A later part of the finishing is done by hand with very fine steel wool.

Finished Lucia forks and spoons waiting to become part of Lucia 5- or 6-piece placesettings.