Huge Molten Aluminum Fire Ant Casting. Biggest One Yet! Casting #25
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ย. 2022
- Aluminum casting of a Fire Ant nest.
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Imported Red Fire Ants (Solenopsis Invicta) are an invasive ant species in the southern United States. They kill other native/beneficial ant species, endangered ground-nesting birds, and send people to hospitals. These ants are harmful to the ecology of Florida as well as many other southern states.
Imagine aliens coming here in a huge spaceship and pouring hot metal over an entire city just to make a gnarly statue out of it.
Lmfaoo
Yeah, I may not particularly like fire ants, BUT he is committing insect genocide here. Remember that miniseries V from the '80s?...Just saying.
@@former_dmcrt8614 Not only that, but the ants are still in there when he pours the molten metal in there. The ants meld into the metal and what comes out is a half metal/half bug statue. But they won't admit this.
@@peterolbrisch8970 True. Pretty gruesome.
Well just like this coming WW3. We all are going to melt. I want it on my sleep though.
The volume ratio between liquid water and steam is 1600x, not 17x. Some of my dad's coworkers discovered this when they failed to redo the lining of the iron furnace at the foundry and something like three tons of molten iron at approx 2800F burned through the lining, the reinforced concrete, and then into the 60F water jacket. The ball of iron went through a ceiling 40' above the furnace and landed back down on the furnace deck that was a foot thick and made of steel. I was only in 4th or 5th grade at the time, but Dad ended up working 16+ hour days for most of a year putting that all back together again. I didn't work there myself except for a couple of summers in high school and college, but the furnace deck was noticeably warped. Steam explosions even at the lesser molten aluminum temperature are absolutely no joke.
Thank you for the correction. I was only a couple order of magnitudes off lol! Absolutely no joke though I agree.
with aluminium, you get a bonus - it can react with water in the same way sodium does, the resulting explosion weigh for weight is comparable with TNT. Unlike sodium, it's fairly difficult to get it to react like this, so the chemical reaction explosions are rare.
The volume ratio makes no sense. If I have a closed container, and it is twice as much volume as the water, and I turn all that water to steam, the volume ratio is 2, but the pressure is insane. I assume you mean at standard temperature and pressure?
And without a container, the volume ratio just goes to infinity (or I guess the volume of the world layer, up to the height as determined by the energy).
@@pyropulseIXXI Yeah, 1L of liquid water at just under the boiling point will expand to approximately 1600L when converting to steam, and exert quite a lot of pressure in the process if there is any restriction on that volume. The exact numbers aren't as important as the magnitude for understanding in this case. Flashing liquid water to steam at the temperature of most molten metals will result in a very dramatic explosion. In this case, it's not a closed container, but something approximating a gun barrel or rocket nozzle, neither of which is great when pointed at you... PV=nRT works when there isn't a phase change involved. When there is, it gets more complicated and AP Chemistry for me was almost 30 years ago now, so I'm not sure I'm the right person to explain the finer details of it :)
@@pyropulseIXXI you don't math and science well do you? The expansion ratio of water to steam at sea level atmospheric pressure (14.7psi/1bar) is roughly 1:1700. if you heat water in a closed container the pressure increases exponentially however it will not flash to steam unless it has room to expand. DO NOT HEAT WATER IN A CLOSED CONTAINER.
As an old time foundry metallurgist, who's been burnt a few times, you really do need to apply more caution and personal protection, molten metal is very unforgiving if you wind up wearing it. Your multiple pours are producing cold shuts, which will be mechanically weak. Aluminium being a relatively light metal will be ejected from a mould very easily if any moisture is present. The expansion rate is 1600:1, which will produce an explosive ejection, so may I suggest a moisture meter to determine ground moisture before you perform a pour. Also the highest fluidity aluminium alloy will have silicon, and typically a 11 to 12% silicon aluminium alloy is ideal. Old VW and Porsche cylinder heads are a good example, but any aluminium automotive casting with intricate thin walls or fins will be in this alloy range. Trying to open up the entries to the ants nest will assist in filling the voids beneath quickly and provide you with a stronger base connection. Lastly rather than trying to level out the base with aluminium, have you considered using an epoxy resin which will adhere well and be self levelling and easier on the display furniture, they can be coloured as well.
He mentions that, and having to wait weeks for the ground moisture to fall and why. I think you mean 1600%. Concur on the resin the issue is if he leaves it outside for any time it will suffer from the sun, plus the differential expansion rates of resin to aluminium. Concrete or plaster might be better, or something flexible like acrylic filler. You could always mount these on sand anyway.
_"As an old time foundry metallurgist, who's been burnt a few times, you really do need to apply more caution and personal protection, molten metal is very unforgiving if you wind up wearing it."_
I totally agree with you. There is a perfect example of this occurrence on youtube that happened while they were pouring aluminium ant casts in Australia. The title of the video is *EXPLOSIONS while casting 250 kg of ant nests! Triple bull ant nest casting (80, 125 and 45 kg) Day 1* Once you find the video, just start it at about 19:05 to see what happened during this pour. If any of those folks had been wearing what the young man in the above video was wearing, they would have been seriously burned. However, they were wearing their PPE.
@@nebtheweb8885 yep exactly what I was talking about. I was helping the foundry foreman with a casting one night shift which happened to be a personal job and as we poured the aluminium into the mould it then ejected and I watched it go towards the roof of the foundry and a piece dropped into the back pocket of my trousers! Fortunately my wallet saved my arse.
@@mandowarrior123 It's not 1600%. It's 1600x. When water becomes steam, it expands by a FACTOR of 1600.
@@harryworth8527 RIP in peace your library card
The shape of this one is almost like a small ever green tree you see at the door of people's homes. It's lovely
@@miguelsilva9085
They really meant evergreen tree in shape
The ant tunnel doesnt look like a bonsai tree
I thought xmas when I saw it
That's what I was thinking! It reminds me of a Christmas tree....
It does- like an Arborvitae.
Having an aloominum ant infused xmas tree is so rad!
Not only is this fun to watch, but I think your repeated emphasis on safety is super underrated.
It’s a recipe for disaster 👍
"Frankly, the only way to protect yourself would be to wear one of those full body lava suits, but I'm not gonna do that in the Florida heat"
He's an example to us all lol 😅
hitting that wheel with a sledgehammer and no eye protetion?
@@jimsfryd I saw that flaming piece of metal go flying past him like "well, I guess he's fine as there's a TH-cam video about it..."
safety for who ? the ants ?
Fascinating. I live in south west Florida, and fire ants are a big problem. Love to see the intricate shapes of their tunnels. No wonder they are impossible to get rid of.
That’s a bit of a understatement big guy
Have them here in southeast Tennessee too
Amdro. You don't need more than an eighth of a teaspoon ... less will do.
I almost went into shock when I put my knee on a fire ant hill and got nailed by about 20 of them. Since then anytime I see anyone destroying a fire ant hill touches my heart. They all need to die!!!🤣🤣
@s g ive been stung a few times. Not pleasant experience. I had 6 mounds of them up till a few weeks ago, as I poison them. But any survivors upped and moved. So now I have 2 new small mounds which are going to be on their way out.
My roommate stepped in one with his bare feet inadvertently, boy did I see him perform some dance moves I've never seen before.
I literally just watched you melt and pour aluminum for a half an hour and enjoyed it lol congrats on that
I’m glad to hear that lol!
@@NolansAnthillCastingsyou could put a hook 🪝 in the top and lift it with an engine hoist for easier extraction
You should cast the aluminum piece in a square clear resin so it stays in one piece and can be turned back rightside up. It would require quite a bit of Resin with a longer hardening time but I think it would look super cool once done.
Why not just pure the Resin down instead? Yes it will have millions of bubbles and ants in, but would be fun to see, if possible. Then sell it as a Masterpiece and call it "A day in a Ant nest"
@@Speedfly1Resin takes FOREVER to set. Or the kinds I’ve used have. Especially underground? I’d think it would take quite a long time. But I agree capturing everything in it to see would be really awesome if it could set quick enough!
Ya even I thought why not resin
It'll be more detailed then the aluminium
@@Speedfly1 It's a cool idea, but I think you'd have to do it in multiple pours and let it set between pours, but maybe giving one pour enough time to set would work. In that case it might actually work out that way, otherwise you'd probably have seams where you'd have piles of ants that would look unnatural and they might eventually just evacuate or die off once the queen is submerged. It'd still look cool it just wouldn't be nearly like a perfect freeze-frame.
Another neat idea might be a combination of using resin, but then incasing that in resin. You could maybe do the tunnels in a gray tint so it's still fairly clear then pour clear resin around that. Only other issue I can think of is where all the air goes when it can only escape as bubbles through the resin, even if you vacuum the bubbles out as best as you can. I guess maybe you could find a way to put the hill opening in a vacuum chamber to suck the bubbles out, if you dig it into the ground for a seal.
The more I think about it, it might actually be a great idea with experimentation. Another interesting idea, rather than a traditional ant farm that's flatter using real soil, you could cast actual tunnels and have just hollow tunnels in a clear resin, then see if you can get ants to form a colony in that. I kinda doubt it'd work without real soil though and no way to allow natural expansion, at least not long-term. Maybe a solution to get them to colonize is to put soil in the tunnels inside the resin so the ants clear that out to open the pathways.
Love to see that
very cool! It's crazy that the molten aluminum stays in liquid form long enough to travel that deep into the ground.
Metals cool at different rates, obviously. But in this case, he's pouring it into a void that is naturally insulated.
How do you know they are not Fire Uncles?
Well, most of them are female, but I'm totally using your joke the next time I mention the male drones in conversation.
🤦🏻♀️
G'day,
Because the entire English-Speaking Population of Planet Earth, outside the Excited Status of Norte ArmedmeriKano..., actually pronounces the "U" in the word,
"AUNT"....
ONLY the DeniZens of AmeriKa call their Aunts..., "Ants" !
Though they ALWAYS write the Missing "U"..., When they scribe it on Paper.
They write
"Solder"
and then say
"SoDDer..." ;
ALWAYS.
Contrarianism, or institutionalised Counterfactual Dunning-Kreugerism on a National scale....
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
You are corny!
You are corny!
Tip: try and look for older gas BBQ housings (PM-cast ones, not diecast). They have 11-13% silicon which makes the molten aluminum super fluid, as do most piston scrap...great looking art!!
I think that when you're pouring molten metal atop molten metal in less than pristine conditions, it might be a good idea to drill some small one inch deep holes in the base prior to each application, so that the metal has something to bite on.
Fire ant castings are my favorite! Not just because they are very intricate nests but also because I really do not like the little buggers.
Yep plenty of times but only a couple times while digging them up. They’re usually all gone by then!
Same, I love animals but when they're invasive and so damn dangerous... You wouldn't expect such little bugs to kill, but they can.
@@NolansAnthillCastings when I sold the aluminum melting it kind of looked like it was turning into lava
Saw*
Both reasons are great!
It’s amazing that the tunnels are big enough and strong enough to allow this liquid to flow through with it just collapsing in all the tunnels or then getting blocked by something. It’s mind blowing dude!
The liquid flows and cools fast. Solid dirt around the tunnels help also. Dirt is extremely durable.
@@name5293 you’re correct, dirt is very durable. It’s why the bodies haven’t been found in 17 years, 6 months and 25 days
@@bluedog843 17 years, 6 months, and 26 days.
@@Whystling_Byrd 17 years, 6 months and 29 days now
@@Leonicles 17 years and 7 months now
I live in Florida. I'm a sculptor. I made a habit of pouring my leftover epoxy resin down fire ant mounds. The result-you can see every ant and every grain of sand. I had a few of them sitting around when an orchid grower friend of mine noticed and demanded that I sell them to her. She made orchid presentations with them and they became her most popular seller. I was busy with other things, so she bought resin and made them for herself. Different species of ants work too. The organic look works really well with the orchids even though it's not really organic. Ha! I enjoyed your video!
The size of these nests are making me realize how much I was underestimating my garden enemy.
I was stung by fire ants when I visited Florida; I walked right over a (smaller) ant Hill. So painful! Your castings are amazing and satisfying to watch. Thank you!
Yes, I live in Florida, and as I bent down to pick up my dog’s droppings while walking him 3 weeks ago, I didn’t notice that I had placed one foot in top of a healthy fire ant hill, they managed to get a few good bites in on my foot, up towards my ankle too. They’re obviously fast little buggers to get that high up on my foot and leg! Yikes!😊
Liquid glass I was told
You’re obviously a city idiot
I get stung/bit at least once a month. I have scars.
This is a very nice way to eradicate a single nest. Problem is there's another 4' away.
a bit of advice for making the base, before you make additional pours use a torch to preheat the aluminium at the top so it will hopefully all melt together when the second, third, fourth pours are applied. i know it would take longer but it would also help with making the base easier to flatten out
Yeah the second and third pour were just lying on top. 😅
The molten aluminum melts the hardened aluminum anyway. The joint is seamless.
It looks like someone trying to move a LEGO UCS Millennium Falcon - A very delicate situation
When I was a kid, in the fifties, I had a lead casting kit with molds for Civil War soldiers and another mold to cast cannons. It was great fun, and I never got burned, but looking back, between the chance of burning the house down, of horribly burning myself, and working with lead fumes, it was a terribly dangerous hobby. I still have it somewhere, and a bunch of soldiers and cannon, but I’d never fire it up again.
It always surprises me just how much dross ends up floating on top of almost any aluminum melt.
Aluminium oxide is very durable.
While living on Ft Myers Beach years ago I had the misfortune of standing on a fire ant hill! I did not notice that fact because I had just came out of the water of the canal we lived on! When I finally realized what was going on, I jumped back in the water to get them off of me. A couple of days later my legs were swollen and I had what looked like hundreds of small whitehead pimples all over both legs, I was in so much pain and the Dr gave me a shot of something and even thought that I might have to be hospitalized for it! I was miserable for over a week. It took at least six weeks for me to heal from that ordeal! I will never forget that!
Wow that sounds super painful - thank you for sharing - may your sharing help someone else...
@@mizz9841 that was many years ago and I too hope it helps just one person as I don’t wish that on anyone!
@@rwes61 Amen
You didn't mention returning and taking out the anthill..You're too nice.
I was stung by hornets once when I was working in my yard. I felt like a WWII aircraft carrier being kamikazed by at least five of them.
Unfortunately for them, I had a can of hornet spray in my garage. I returned with the can and emptied it at the nest to the point that the leaves of the bush the nest was attached to became discolored.
Needless to say, the nest became disheveled and the hornet carcasses fell to the ground. I gave them a proper burial under my boots.
I have saved my family from the winged terrors.
Fire ants are one of the reasons I will never live again in the eastern lowcountry.
What an artful masterpiece. I can see this massive and beautiful piece sitting on a polished wood support on a library table in a architectural office. It's that grand. Great work.
You might consider using a bandsaw to break down alloy wheels, you avoid the charcoal contamination and you end up with more metal of higher quality
Fantastic work! And since I live in FL as well and absolutely despise fire ants, I have a special appreciation for your art.
Murderer
No one despises fire ants anywhere near as much as mosquitoes. Get your priorities right.
@@thingshappen9199 You just inspired me to create a new style of art in which I fling molten aluminum in the air at the mosquitoes. I don't need a mask, but everyone else does.
Are there ants entombed in the art
I’m sure non were harmed in the making of this.
This process reminded me of watching an artist on the Big Island of Hawaii who works with molten hot lava pouring out of areas near the Volcano. He scoops out molten lava & creates bowls, & various artfully shaped items.
Imagine you’re an ant and just casually strolling the streets of your city… then a molten aluminum wall rushes towards you 😄
This blew my mind! I was amazed at how deep and intricate the tunnels were and watching the aluminum melt was mesmerizing!
One thing I found useful when casting were leather foundry 'spats' which go from just under your knees down over the top of your boots. They fasten up at the back with velcro and are quick to put on and remove.
Another thing I used was a leather blacksmiths type apron which covers your chest, over your man parts down to the spats. Although, once I was casting bronze alone and managed to shut the top of the furnace down and trap the apron inside, couldn't lift the furnace top back up because the crucible was getting way too heavy and there was no way to reach the flat spot I had prepared with the pouring ring to put the crucible down so I had to stand and watch my apron burn through so I could move. The pouring worked well despite that 'incident'.😀
When I was in the Navy and working with liquid oxygen we wore "moulders" boots that had a smooth front and no laces and were designed for hot metal but worked for liquid oxygen because you don't want either of those to get caught in the laces in case of a spill.
You could extend the spats up higher and attach to belt, like chaps but with appropriately thick leather. Then shorter apron? Appreciate the cautionary tale. I've finally got someplace to set up my forge and other metalworking equipment, will remember that one!
Dude you’re unintentionally making some killer art pieces. Seriously that could be an alternate Christmas tree or something out of nightmare before Christmas. Cool video.
I believe that some aluminum castings have sold as Art. Which is entirely understandable, as the end result looks like something out of Faeryland....
Killer ant pieces
Me and my ex been taking about making the ANTi Christmas Tree TM. For years now.
For some reason this video made me think of the movie Holes and how making castings of fire ant tunnels would probably build a hell of a lot more character than just digging holes alone.
That was a pretty good book. The movie was almost too ridiculous to be believed, but, the book is always better…!
I love that this is basically an art form and also can be a way of spiting the equivalent of non-flying hornets that these are
I didn’t expect to watch the whole thing, but it was informative and well timed.
First time watching this, I had no idea what you were supposed to accomplish but I hung in there. I am amazed; very cool.
Man , mad props to you with the work you gotta do to make all of this.
I’ve done some of this casting in zinc with a camp stove. I really appreciate your hard work in scaling this up. Great results! Congrats!
I think it would be just as interesting if it were hanging with the base on top, oriented in the original direction.
Reminds me of a Jellyfish or Eldrazi Horror
Side note I just wanted to say bravo on your patience for digging it up slowly. Great job.
Something I've seen other casters do that helps with the base.. get a small garden rake and level off the top of the mound before starting.. keeps the first pieces a lot closer to the base and strengthens it...
Well done.. looks awesome
Its amazing. You never realize until seeing this how big the nest is! No wonder they are impossible to eradicate. Beautiful casting. Thanks for the video!
Sure is, Thanks for the comment!
So happy you’re back.. that was an amazing piece. 👏👏👍🏼👍🏼
Thank you so much 😀
50,000 ants with their middle finger extended.
@@jan_phd 😆😆😆
You should cast a D-ring into the base (nothing fancy, just set it down and pour some molten aluminum around it) then use a tripod with a rope over the top to take up the weight while you dig. Would keep it from collapsing on itself and let you get all the way down. Once you get it out, you can cut the D-ring off with a grinding wheel.
I was going to say the same
Heh. I just literally put in a comment suggesting drilling and tapping a hole for an eyebolt. Then using an A-frame for support to excavate all the way around.
Or... you could leave it and display it as hanging art in it's correct orientation.
@@syberphish
That would be cool too.😎
The rims are a great idea for the aluminum. You might consider using a Sawzall to cut it up and save the time of pulling out the charcoal.
I like the different colors of the metal from multiple pours. It gives it some difference. Fire ants are a problem in south Georgia also.
Nice I’ve been introduced to fire ants in Florida by accident . Being from Michigan , and doing disaster relief I’m used to yankee ants and most are harmless . But those red SOB Ants don’t play around and they don’t care if your cleaning up the disaster sitting on their homes ! But your aluminum artwork is cool never saw that before and will check out some other stuff later 🎄
I'm glad it was something with the ground, and that you're doing okay.
Did not realize how much work was put into this. Great job.
That turned out so sick, the way it gets thinner and the top and that single centre point makes it look like some intricate spire.
Being rid of a fire and colony AND making art? I love this!!!
The great thing about the law is that insects are not protected by animal abuse laws. Honey bees are probably the only insect I wouldn't terminate with extreme prejudice.
“But what about those poor fire ants?”
-Said no one ever!!
I came here to laugh at the hate from the vegan tree huggers and bug lovers, but I'm amazed that I only found very positive comments. Not a single sour comment within all those that I have read.
They are invasive
No aunts were killed in the making of this video, ants , maybe
No, but you still have to wonder how the hell did the first one even come across the thought of Pouring molten metal into a ant hill?
Kind of strange, not necessarily what I would consider art but it is unique design and interesting to say the least . 🤷🏾♂️🤔 I'll allow it.
You look like an old jerryrigeverything
You should do an art show with castings like this. Amazing!!!!
Cool video, but it would have been nice to have seen the mold all finished up and clean :)
Nolan, Just a couple of things now that I have watched a couple of your videos. First, very nice job on the castings. You always seem to get the larger ant hives. A suggestion for you. It might be time to consider having a second furnace operating and melting your second batch of Aluminum. Your pieces of art are getting larger and larger, and having a larger capacity furnace or a second one with a second pour ready to go is looking more and more needed. Just a suggestion... Keep up the good work. Nobody here in the USA wants those Fire-Ants. I know the part of my family living in Oklahoma takes every opportunity they can to keep those suckers off their property.
How do you get rid of fire ants, without poisons?
Find the main nest, put some meat on top, and then dump boiling water on the nest. Or just use molten aluminum
@@mariatorres9789 poison is the most cost effective and safe way to deal with them. Boiling water would probably be effective as well, but dealing with the quantity required is quite awkward and the side effects on the lawn unwelcome. There is no good mechanical means to remove them--digging with a shovel is out of the question, and even digging a nest up with an excavator will only result in moving them to another location.
Happily, most fire ant insecticides are very specific to ants, and don't have much effect on beneficial insect populations.
As I have mentioned, induction hot plate w iron dutch oven prewarming near to melting some ingots. One generator can have 2 or 3 of those things going full blast.
I have heard of an artist who digs up lightnings which have hit the beach. Those fused silicon castings are pretty long and delicate.
I’d love to try that out if I lived closer to the ocean.
@@NolansAnthillCastings Here is a video showing some samples: th-cam.com/video/HCVm0o0ooP0/w-d-xo.html
its called fulgurite, and it is very very cool looking!
Absolutely fascinating. I have so many questions for you. Will you salvage the pieces that broke off in the hole and weld them on? What did you do about the root that goes through the middle? Preserve it as part of the sculpture? What gave you the idea to do this? How/when did you become interested in metallurgy and start experimenting? And, yes, you need a bigger crucible!
Thanks for the video!
What a marvelous piece of work! Congratulations!
I am very allergic to fire ants so I love what you do. Creative and takes out the fire ants
It’s always important to remember not all the ants are present at the point of ground zero. The ones that do survive will still have an abundance of food even if they no longer have a designated roll.
Where? Their home was just destroyed? What abundance of food?
(Honestly curious)
Me too. Found out at the sunshine skyway
It’s sick s that all these people are lauding this as a great success. It’s nothing short of brutal and disgusting. You’re testing these poor creatures, for what!? the test is sacrificing countless lives. You’re
@@nadiral-najidi8455 Don’t be a freaking softy. Don’t want it? Leave this planet. Not satisfied? Leave this galaxy. Not enough? Leave this universe.
Still not enough? Leave the multiverse. Still complaining? Leave the omniverse.
Still here? You know what’s next…
Yay! You’re back with safety gear and a sponsor! Terrific!
More to come!
Cool.
Every once in awhile TH-cam pops up a truly interesting video selection at random. This one was cool enough to watch all the way through. 🙂
Thanks for stopping further expansion of these invasive ants
So relaxing watching this. I had never seen Aluminum melted before. There was a corporation in Jamaica in the 1960s when our family traveled. I think it was Alkoa (spelling most likely wrong). We could see part of it from the house we rented in Miramar Bay. We were not allowed inside of course. Our cook and house keeper warned us about a gruesome murder of a white executive of the plant. Bob Marley had cut his first album at the time. We made many friends, but we were warned not to go to Kingston, as there were many people who resented white people. Our Housekeeper bought Bob Marley and the Whalers Album for me. I still have it. Rege was called Rock Steady then. We were so close to seeing how Aluminum was made, but were unable to see inside. This video was so interesting, I have subscribed. The result is stunning. Since I am new to this, I was not sure what the results would be. At this time of year, it looks like a tree covered in snow, because I live in New England.
Biggest problem with a larger furnace/crucible for your projects is going to be hoisting the damned thing before you pour. You might almost be better off adding another 1 or two of the same size so you can have all of them burning at the same time, then you can cycle through them as needed. Roughly what is the volume of the current crucible? Looking at it I initially though it was between a gallon and a gallon and a half. After watching all the way through and seeing a comment about the final weight, it looks more like a half to 3/4 of a gallon molten.
This is the first video of this I’ve seen, and it’s definitely super cool! I feel like this thing could be turned into a really cool looking lamp
This is crazy and I'm glad it exists.
I believe I'd poke a few holes in the bed before I made my first pour so it would have a stronger base to connect the nest. Similarly I'd probably make up a wood ring for a mold that I could set on the rough poured base on the last pour to have a solid flat base to set it on when finished. Just my 2 cents. Good video 👍
Might want to consider putting a few hooks into the top of the sculpture during your initial pour. Then you can put a wood frame above the ground and suspend the sculpture from that as you start to dig
These sculptures are incredibly labor intensive, by both the ants and you.
That was a fun video to watch. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos.
Glad you're back on
Coolest thing I’ve ever seen involving fire ants was at the squadron building when I was active duty. At each end their was a massive fire ant hill. Someone decided one day to scoop one into a bucket and dump it onto the other on the other side of the building.
Carnage ensued. The most amazing thing was after the war died down. The home mound, sorted out the dead. Dragging their colony back inside the mount and piling up the enemy colony outside into a large pile at the base of the mound.
It's a shame it wasn't filmed. That would have been cool footage to send to NOVA for a PBS special.
Wow, just the thought! Incredible.
Lol
Thanks for that warning about moisture in the beginning verry informative!
Your art is unique. Thank you
So much work! You have to have a real passion for this art. It came out beautiful!
A tip for adding more strength at the junction of the shafts to the base. Get a small battery vacuum and use a small tube about 1/2 inch on it. Suck up some sand around three to four shafts to increase the diameter and shape them like a funnel getting wider at the top. This way your adding a little more metal between the base and the thinner shafts.
Thank you for showing how it's done. Awesome!!
Amazing casting! 👍👍👍
The ants are going to do a disaster movie about these one day. 😁
😮 I swear I figured all you were doing was just pouring a base. When you kept digging deeper I thought “why?”.
But holy cow! Great job! ❤ Those buggers run deep. (And I hope they were those icky fire ants 😤).
This is amazing! Beautiful! Good work.
I think that everybody should start turning all ants into fine art works
I have seen pictures of the finished product before but never had an idea of how much work and how careful a process this is. Nice work!
That’s so incredible, really impressive mold.
If I could afford to buy a piece of art, it would be one of these castings.
poetic justice. Fire Ants destroyed by Fire. They never knew what hit em.
Love these videos. Idea for you. On the base, could you use like Rebar in like an X pattern to help support the base? Like you would with a Christmas tree?
Super cool!!! I’ve always been fascinated by these ant hill castings.
You should see some they do over seas, seen one where the used concrete instead of metal because the tunnels were so large. th-cam.com/video/dECE7285GxU/w-d-xo.html
You taking the impurities out of the mettle is the most satisfying part of the video
This was incredibly interesting to watch.This is new to me, I've never seen it done before. Beautiful job. Thanks so much for sharing. 😊❤
Moral of the story - ALWAYS carry old piston heads at ALL times, you never know when they will come in use.
I have 47 piston heads in my pocket as we speak. Ya' just never know.
And always remove the rings before melting.
or just pull em out once it melts
This will never get boring!
I don’t think you’re able to quite get all of the tunnels cast, because i’m pretty sure some of them go upwards from underneath without an exit hole. I could be wrong tho.
I’m curious about the large spoon used to skim off the dross - what durable metal is that spoon made of?
Get yourself a pressure washer! I bet it would really speed up the excavation process. Cool casting too!
its been so long tbh i always love your vids i think casting ant hills is so interesting
Nolan do you ever sell these castings? Just beautiful work!
Name this one: Red Ant Hell.
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Obviously a lot of hard work. I have watched you from day 1. 😊
Miss seeing your castings, good seeing you again.😄👍👍👍
Incredibly beautiful art! ✌🏼⭐
This is my first time seeing something like this…it’s really cool!
Imagine being an ant at that moment. What a way to go
I'd be like "Whoa...that's Metal..."