Gábor Farkas, metal foundry

It is a rare and heartwarming feeling when we hear or read about someone or people trying to preserve, nurture, and pass on the old folk, traditional character of their craft. ; Borzova or also known as Szádvárborsa (Slovak: Silická Brezová) is a small village in the Rožňava district of the Košice district. ; Gábor Farkas, a metal foundryman, lives and works here. ; He learned the profession from the foundries there. His greatest helper and advisor was his father, who ran the workshop there. In fact, he did not choose the profession, but the profession chose him. When he left college, his father said: “If you don’t want to study, my son, then come work at my foundry, where you will learn what work is.” ; He needed a job, so he had no appellate title. At first, he helped the experienced casters. According to him, it was not easy, but after about a year he got his own “platz”, as the molder’s workspace was called there, and he started working independently. They cast gray cast iron in Kuntapolca, and after a few years he molded steel castings in a Czech foundry. With the experience he gained there, he started casting with his father in the workshop he set up at home – they produced bronze parts for the surrounding factories. Then came aluminum garden furniture and a wide variety of brass castings – footrests, shepherd’s hooks, bells, which required more delicate handwork and which he still enjoys working on to this day. ; He has cast small vintage car parts, bells, garden furniture, but also sculptures weighing hundreds of kilos. He can cast anything out of aluminum, bronze or brass. ; The small bell is made in the same way as any other piece to be cast. First, a so-called pattern is needed, which is an exact copy of the bell to be made. From this, a sand mold is made so that the imprint of the pattern – the negative of the bell – remains in the sand. The molten metal – in the case of a bell, an alloy of copper and tin – is heated to the required temperature and then poured into the sand mold thus formed. ; We hope that many more beautiful objects will be created by his hands, and that this almost forgotten profession will survive for posterity.