Hi Jon,
The first thing I'm going to make is me a better pattern maker and foundryman! I figure Al is the best thing I can learn with as it's available as material and achievable as a medium given the furnace I have. I've made a couple plates to Gingery's specs and a ball crank using my greensand as its own core. I got it extra moist and allowed it to dry. I used some bamboo as a core box and rammed the moist greensand into it. I had tried a ballcrank with a steel core and couldn't get it out. Anyway, at this point I'm just thrilled to have been able to make a usable part. I'm going to rig up a lathe of a type and bandsaw a pattern so I can try some other techniques. It is tempting to attempt some kind of brackets of my own design to make some usable tool. Eventually, I intend to get to bronze. I have it in mind to make hardware, of my wife's design, for our house.