Pear of Anguish
Pear of Anguish
The Pear of Anguish is one of those products we had considered making for some time, but really wondered if the market would sustain it.
pear of anguish video - opening, end view
Years ago, customers would contact us every month or so and ask if we made one or had plans to do so. It seemed a bit too complicated, specialized, and would be really cool, but probably too expensive in the end.
Over time we started inquiring more when a customer called. Would they be ok with it being a bronze casting? We wanted to make something more ornate, and did this interest them? How important is it to them that this be a real point of pride piece, because there was simply no way we could make this with the quality we wanted at any sort of inexpensive price.
video of basic pear of anguish operation
After listening and learning all we could from our customers, we set about designing our version of the Pear of Anguish. This was actually the first product we designed fully in a Cad/Cam system. This enabled us to test out that the levers would work smoothly and appropriately.
Next the initial piece for the bills was turned on a lathe, then sliced into thirds using a rotary table on a milling machine. This was actually fairly involved as it involved custom fixturing just to hold the odd shape without marring it.
After that we had a single bill which was mounted in a CNC mill to hollow out the inside. Just to get to this point took several weeks of work.
The end knob with the head was sculpted by hand, and mounted on its base with Latin engravings.
At this point we had several months into making the prototype parts. After we had them all, each one was placed in a vulcanizer to make a rubber mold. Wax is injected into these rubber molds to form all the parts, in wax, for a pear of anguish.
video showing wax heads, still picture of bills in wax
Pear of anguish bills in wax prior to spruing and casting
Once all the wax parts are ready the are put onto a wax "tree". This tree forms the passage into which the molten bronze is poured for the final castings. Just the process of attaching the wax parts onto the tree can take several hours for one pear of anguish. Its tedious painstaking work to get right.
Pear of anguish head knobs in wax, sprued up and ready to be invested in plaster for casting
After the parts are mounted, the entire tree is placed into a metal flask and a specialized plaster investment is poured into it. The plaster sets overnight and the wax is burned out in an industrial oven over a 13 hour period.
The plaster filled flasks emerge from the oven at around 900 degrees Fahrenheit and the bronze is cast into them at around 1900 degrees Fahrenheit. A few years back our bronze melting furnace broke down and we needed a new one. We wanted something larger than what we had been using, so we had to design and fabricate our own. The electric temperature stabilization is far better on our current furnace with four times the previous capacity.
Its hard to express the excitement of pouring the molten bronze into the plaster molds. Most people never see a crucible full of molten metal but when you do, you realize you are dealing with incredible heat and power. It requires extra care of course, since it is so hazardous, but that's what makes it so rewarding.
The Pear of Anguish is one of the most complicated things we makes as it involves so many disciplines in its original creation and production. We were really proud to be able to bring this to market, and are prouder still when we send one of to its new home with you!