Petrobond Sand an Affordable Delft Clay Alternative for Precious Metal Casting

The sand is well bonded and is very fine. It captures the details of the pieces I am casting very very accurately, including some scratches on the pattern. I was amazed to see the level of detail it helps reproduce. And the sand is reusable, although I cannot attest how many times. So far, I have used about 10 times, and nothing has changed.

Outstanding value, and works just as well as Delft clay. I cast rings from brass, bronze, and zinc, and there is really no reason to go purchasing that expensive stuff when this works wonderfully. I've been using a 20 lb bag for nearly a year and am very impressed with the results. I add a little water to make it less crumbly.Attached are several projects I have done successfully with this clay. It's great!

Shipping was super fast.the sand itself has been great takes a little getting used to,but gives an excellent surface. Works good for me because my water based sand is frozen solid. I had a little trouble with my first pour freezing off but what do you expect at -15f really only tried because the sand was okay. The smell wasn't that bad as mentioned in some reviews,my old trucks smells of burning oil more than the sand.

I've never used real delft clay, so I can't compare the two. I bought this over the delft clay because I needed a lot of sand for larger parts. You really get a lot of sand for your money.This sand is very very fine and worked well for my silver work. It's fine enough to transfer a fingerprint. It does flake / fall apart with more complex shapes. E.g. removing a large / complex blank without disturbing the imprint can be hard -- how that compares to real delft clay I don't know. Part of the equation here is the material of your blank. For example, a rough plastic-resin blank will stick to the sand more than a finely sanded plastic-resin or metal blank.There is a foul smell when the mold is poured. I think this is from the oil cooking off. The portion in direct contact with the poured metal is burnt black after pouring the mold. This burnt sand can be scraped off and discarded and the rest of the sand can be reused. However, even this unburnt sand tends to dry out a bit with each use, so I'm not sure how many molds I will get before having to add oil. That said, I think I will be able to use this sand for years and years.

I was on a budget, but wanted to do some delft casting, so I was happy to find this version of foundry sand! It works great, but can leave a little grainy texture to your casts. Super easy to clean-up on the bench grinder. Highly recommended!!

Not worth it.

Economical, easy to use, gives great casting detail. Lots of smoke which is to be expected when using any kind of oiled sand, but overall i am very happy with this product

Absolutely perfect casting media. Made incredibly detailed castings. Easy to clean up and reuse.