By Matthew Sotlar / The Jambar
Youngstown State University’s chapter of the American Foundry Society competed in the national Cast In Steel Competition in Atlanta, where its replica of George Washington’s sword won several awards.
YSU’s AFS, a branch of the Steel Foundry Society of America, was founded in 2018. Brian Vuksanovich, mechanical engineering professor and chapter advisor, said the chapter originated from collaborations between engineering and the art department.
“We had a job with the defense department doing cast parts,” Vuksanovich said. “Around 2010, we were working with the art department and the engineering department, making parts, sculptures, projects like that … so we got pretty advanced, plus, we had a lot of work going on with the government, so we also learned a lot.”
YSU’s AFS chapter competed in its first Cast In Steel competition in 2019, and over the years, earned several awards from the SFSA. Vuksanovich said the society focused on past errors to succeed in this year’s competition.
“We looked at the things we needed to fix that year, fixed them this year, and now we’ve got the whole enchilada. We’ve got best in show. We also won best performance, so there was the big one, we won that one, and they also had a bunch of subcategories,” Vuksanovich said.
In addition to best in show, YSU’s AFS earned first place in performance and second place in technical reports and casting.
Ely Vuksanovich, AFS vice president and mechanical engineering technology sophomore, said the society is great for students interested in learning through hands-on engagement.
“I like to know how to make things and how things are made, and foundry stuff is kind of one of the few things that you can’t just start doing in your backyard or your kitchen,” Ely Vuksanovich said. “I’m like, ‘Well, I want to know how to do this, I want to know how things work,’ so I got involved.”
Brian Vuksanovich said the SFSA chooses a unique theme or style for each Cast In Steel Competition.
“The first year was a Viking axe, they had a Bowie knife one year,” Brian Vuksanovich said. “They had a leaf sword, which is like what the elves used in ‘Lord of the Rings.’ They did an African spear one year, and we did the Halligan bar, so it’s something different all the time.”
He added that the competition generally chooses a weapon to draw more attention to the submissions.
“They like to use weapons because it’s flashier,” Brian Vuksanovich said. “Even when we did the Halligan bars, the Halligan bars are made to bust open doors. They had to break two-by-fours with it, and we had to break open a door with it … We want to get people interested so they want you to have something photogenic.”
Students interested in joining the AFS can contact Brian or Ely Vuksanovich at bdvuksanovich@ysu.edu or skvuksanovich@ysu.edu.
