Est. 1987 · Flathead Valley, Montana
We cast
what others
won't pour.
A working sand-casting foundry in northwest Montana. Bronze, aluminum, and iron — poured by hand for architects, artists, and the occasional stubborn restoration nobody else would touch.
- Foundry
- Sand cast
- Metals
- Bronze · Al · Fe
- Pour temp
- ≈ 2,150°F
- Max pour
- 1,400 lb
What we do
Six disciplines,
one crucible.
Everything below happens under one roof — from carving the pattern to rubbing the last coat of wax into a finished patina.
Sand Casting
Green sand and resin-bonded molds for one-off pieces and short production runs. Single pours up to 1,400 pounds.
Bronze & Aluminum
Silicon and manganese bronze, bell bronze, and A356 aluminum melted in a gas-fired crucible furnace.
Architectural Metal
Doors, gates, railings, hardware, and signage — cast, fabricated, and installed to fit the opening you actually have.
Restoration
Historic iron and bronze brought back by matching alloy and re-pouring from patterns lifted off the original part.
Pattern & Moldmaking
Hand-carved wood and clay masters or CNC-cut foam and resin patterns, held to tolerances you can build a run on.
Finishing & Patina
Grinding, chasing, and hand-applied chemical patinas — liver, verde, and fumed browns, waxed rather than sprayed.
Pattern to patina
How a commission gets made
Pattern
Every casting begins as a positive — carved in wood, sculpted in clay, or milled from foam. This is where the piece is actually designed.
Mold
The pattern is packed in bonded sand, then split, vented, and gated so metal can enter and air can escape cleanly.
Pour
Metal comes out of the furnace near 2,150°F and fills the cavity in seconds. There are no second chances on a pour.
Finish
Once cool, the piece is cut free, ground, chased, and patinated by hand until it looks the way it did in the drawing.
1987
First heat lit
3,860+
Pieces poured
2,150°F
Working pour temp
1,400 lb
Largest single pour
The foundry
Started with
one furnace and
a bad idea.
Founder — Wes Halvorsen
114 Foundry Row, Columbia Falls, MT 59912
Sand, fire, and patience.
In 1987, Wes Halvorsen lit a home-built crucible furnace in a rented shed off the highway and poured a doorknob that came out wrong three times before it came out right.
Nearly four decades later the shed is a real foundry, the furnace is bigger, and the standard hasn't moved: we take work other shops turn down, we quote it honestly, and we pour it in metal chosen to outlast the building it goes into.
We are small on purpose. One furnace, a handful of hands, and a waiting list — because a casting only gets one chance at the pour, and we would rather do it slowly than do it twice.
Start a commission
Tell us what
you want cast.
Bring us a drawing, a photograph, a broken part, or just an idea. We'll tell you honestly whether the foundry is the right tool for it — and what it would take to pour.
Call · (406) 555-0147
Email · shop@flatheadfoundry.com
Visit · 114 Foundry Row, Columbia Falls, MT 59912