Costumes, candy, pumpkins, carving knives––you know the drill when Halloween rolls around. But what if metalcasters could spice up this fall favorite? 

That’s what’s happening in our Foundry Educational Foundation family of colleges and universities as students add some hot, flowing metal into Jack ’O Lanterns. And it’s wicked good fun. 

FEF schools have been hosting “pumpkin pours” in many forms over the past several years. FEF certified school, Texas State, includes a costume contest, games, and food in addition to the actual main event pour. Their event, The Iron Pumpkin, was first held in 2021. 

“We use the pour as a medium to interest new students in metalcasting,” said Key Professor Luis Trueba. “The event also serves as the fall social for our AFS student chapter and is held in conjunction with our fall Metal Casting Industrial Advisory Committee meeting.”

The Texas State event is open to the Texas State community, alumni, friends, and family of the metalcasting program. They get the word out by posting fliers around campus and word of mouth.

The event also serves as an opportunity for the metalcasting program students to be involved in a wide variety of tasks: planning, pumpkin carving, cooking food, and organizing the costume contest. The activity they probably most enjoy, though, is pouring the iron.

Professor Trueba says their event grows every year. “At some point we want to fill up our parking lot with spectators,” he said. 
This year, The Iron Pumpkin will include a special opportunity to donate to their mini-campaign. Funds raised during this campaign will be used to upgrade their green sand system. Donors to the campaign will receive a medallion cast by the students.

It’s Catching On

Georgia Southern, another FEF certified school, held their first pumpkin pour in 2024. 

“The students had always wanted to host this type of event, but I had safety concerns about pouring molten metal into wet pumpkins,” said Key Professor Mingzhi Xu. “After talking to some other FEF professors and industry professionals, and doing some trials, I felt it was safe to make it happen.”

Like their Texas State counterparts, Georgia Southern students were in charge of the whole event, which included carving and laying out pumpkins, preparing charge materials, running the furnace, and handling and pouring the metal.

For their first pumpkin pour, Georgia Southern limited the attendees to their Industrial Advisory Board members and the AFS student chapter members––best to practice first before opening up the event to others, they thought.

Looking for a new “treatment ladle?” Georgia Southern has done the testing for you! 

“We actually used one of the pumpkins as a “treatment ladle” for ductile iron, said Xu. “We put FeSiMg in the pumpkin and poured molten iron on top. It was flashy and fun!”

Watch last year’s Georgia Southern pour at: bit.ly//Georgia-Pour.

FEF professors spend hours in classrooms and labs teaching young minds the processes and intricacies of the metalcasting industry. This type of activity, although loads of fun, is also a great way to turn the students’ book learning into a full-blown, hands-on experience. And in case it isn’t obvious, pouring hot metal into pumpkins is cool!