The detachable casting channel; a faint chalk horse beneath the text
An iron-armed, re-firable pouring channel and equal furnaces poured at once, with the base first
Leonardo prescribes making the pouring channel entirely finished and armed with iron, detached from the mold so it can be handled and thoroughly re-fired on its own; if it were poorly baked the bronze could chill within it. He adds that if experience shows bronze raining from various places rises to an equal level, every furnace should be of equal capacity and outlet and poured at one time, except those of the base, which are unstopped first. A large, faint black-chalk study of a standing horse — the subject of this casting campaign, the colossal Sforza monument named in the dossier — is visible beneath the ink text.
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An iron-armed, detachable pouring channel
After finishing the core, make the form of the channel through which the bronze enters the mold; it must be entirely finished, armed with iron, and separable so it can be handled, re-fired and completed on its own. Kept detached, it can be well baked, for the time of the buried mold and the melting would be too short for such a long re-firing; if poorly baked, the bronze could chill within it.
Equal furnaces poured at once, the base first
If by experience the bronze raining from various places is found to rise to an equal level, make every furnace of equal capacity and equal outlet, poured at a single time. The furnaces of the base are the exception: they are to be unstopped first, which will be useful.
Faint chalk study of a standing horse
Beneath the ink writing a large study of a standing horse is faintly drawn in black chalk, its head, arched neck and legs discernible across the sheet. It is the very subject of these foundry notes, the colossal equestrian monument named in the codex dossier.