Lost-wax casting (cire perdue) is the oldest continuous metalworking technique still in daily use — and still the most practical way for a small UK jewellery studio to turn a wax carving or 3D print into a cast metal piece. This guide covers what you need to buy, in what order, and realistic budgets for each stage.
This isn't a technique manual (casting a clean piece takes practice and a teacher). It's a buying guide: what kit you actually need to start casting in 2026, what to skip, and where the cost traps sit.
The lost-wax workflow in plain English
- Carve or 3D print a wax model of the finished piece.
- Mount the model on a sprue base and surround with a flask.
- Pour investment (a plaster-silica mix) into the flask. Vacuum de-gas. Let set.
- Burn out the wax in a kiln — this leaves a hollow cavity the exact shape of your model.
- Melt metal and force it into the cavity (vacuum, centrifugal or steam pressure casting).
- Quench, break the flask, clean the casting.
Each stage has its own tools. You can't skip stages. Here's what you need at each step.
Stage 1: Wax carving tools
For hand-carved models (as opposed to 3D-printed), you need:
- A hand carver set — spatula, leaf, blade, needle, ball shapes. Around £20–£50 for a complete set.
- Wax knives and blades for rough-cutting blanks. Around £10–£20.
- An electric wax pen (optional but recommended) — temperature-controlled, for sprueing and repair work. £60–£180.
- Wax ring tube and blanks in different colours (blue for soft, green for hard). Consumable.
See the Wax Carving Tools collection for the full range. Skip the cheap-import beginner kit — the spatula shapes are often too blunt to do precision work and you'll rebuy within a month.
Stage 2: Sprue base, flask and investment bowl
- Rubber sprue base — sized to match your flask. £5–£15.
- Stainless steel casting flask — typical starter size is 2½" × 3" for a single-ring tree. £15–£30.
- Rubber investment mixing bowl — flexible so you can squeeze out air bubbles. 4" × 5" covers small-flask work. £10–£20.
- Investment powder — jeweller-grade gypsum-bonded (like Satin Cast). Consumable, £15–£25 per kg.
- Vacuum de-gasser — essential for getting air bubbles out of the investment before it sets. Starter units around £150–£300.
The investment mixing bowl matters more than people expect — a rigid bowl means trapped air bubbles become pits in your casting. Always use a flexible rubber mixing bowl.
Stage 3: Burnout kiln
This is where beginner casting costs jump. You need a programmable kiln that can:
- Ramp up to 730°C (minimum) on a controlled schedule.
- Hold temperature stably for a full burnout cycle (typically 8–10 hours).
- Fit your flask size.
Expect to spend £400–£900 for a decent programmable burnout kiln suitable for small-studio work. This is not a place to cheap out — an incomplete burnout leaves carbon residue that ruins the casting. Used kilns from retiring studios are a good option if you can inspect before buying.
Stage 4: Melting and casting
Three common methods for small-studio work:
- Vacuum casting: most reliable for bench jewellery. Uses a vacuum pump to pull molten metal into the flask cavity. Starter units around £400–£800.
- Centrifugal casting: spin-casting — cheaper (£100–£250) but harder to control consistently.
- Steam/pressure casting: old-school potato-on-a-flask method. Essentially free but limited to very small pieces.
You'll also need a torch or crucible for melting metal, crucible tongs, a crucible dish, and your casting metal itself (sterling silver grain, 9ct gold, bronze). See the Student & Starter Kits collection for crucible + tongs sets.
Stage 5: Cleanup
- Flask quenching tongs — for dropping the hot flask into cold water.
- Wire brush — for initial investment removal.
- Pickle pot — to clean firescale off the casting.
- Side cutters or sprue cutters — to separate the casting from the sprue. See Pliers & Cutters.
- Files and polishing kit — normal bench finishing from here. See Files & Engraving and Polishing & Finishing.
Realistic total budget
For a genuinely usable small-studio lost-wax setup in 2026:
- Minimum viable starter (centrifugal + used kiln): around £800.
- Proper vacuum setup with new kiln: £1,500–£2,500.
- Full small-studio professional setup: £3,500+.
Most working UK studios build out in stages: start with hand-carve + outsource the casting to a UK trade caster for the first year, then bring casting in-house once the volume justifies the equipment cost.
Where to buy
Toolsmith stocks the wax carving, investment, flask and cleanup tools in the Wax Carving Tools, Jewellery Making Tools and Student & Starter Kits collections. For kilns and vacuum casting units, specialist jewellery-equipment suppliers like Cookson, Walsh and Sutton are the main UK trade sources.
All Toolsmith tools are UK-warehoused with same-day dispatch before 2pm on weekdays, free UK delivery and 30-day returns if a tool isn't right for the job.
