A roomful of axes, hundreds of college students and hours and hours of hard work.
Cast in Steel 2026 pitted college teams against each other, trying to design and cast the best horseman’s axe. This was the 7th year for the competition put on by the Steel Founders of America Society (SFSA).
The annual competition continues to grow, as a record 52 (58 competed in the event) teams showed up in Grand Rapids for the event. A total of 35 schools sent teams to this year’s competition.
Lawton industrial engineer Nick Knotts became enamored with Cast in Steel back in 2024 and this year got quite the surprise. “So in January, I got a phone call from Dave Poweliet, he’s the vice president of technology at the Steel Founder’s Society of America, and he said “Hey Nick, would you like to be the head of the best casting panel for Cast in Steel this year?” And before the words were even out of his mouth, I said yes!”
The History of the Horseman’s Axe
This year, students competed to cast the best horseman’s axe.
“So the precedent for the horseman’s axe is that Robert the Bruce used it to slay an enemy in a battle in single combat. Allegedly the axe he swung it so hard that he broke through the helmet and the skull of his adversary, which is pretty cool,” said Knotts with a smile.
Robert the Bruce served as King of Scots from 1306-1329.
He led Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England. The war helped Scotland regain it’s independent kingdom.
Many regard Robert the Bruce a national hero in Scotland.
Cast in Steel Judging and Requirements
The Cast in Steel competition has several requirements each year, as far as dimensions and weights for that year’s casting.
Each team has to be from a university, technical college or some other post-secondary institution. Teams can’t have more than five students and the team must also have an industry sponsor.
“This is very crucial,” said Knotts. “A big goal of the Cast in Steel program is to connect these students with industry sponsors.”
As far as the horseman’s axe, there were three requirements each team had to meet:
- The axe must leverage casting technology
- The axe must be under 3.3 pounds
- The axe must be no longer than 31.5”
“Kind of the approach SFSA takes is that there are the basic requirements and kind of everything else is up for interpretation. And if you don’t meet some of the basic requirements, they don’t stop you from competing, but you can’t win. Which I think is great,” said Knotts.
Student teams also had to submit a technical report detailing what they did and why they did it. This report had to be under ten pages.
The students also are required to make a video that is under five minutes long. The video showcases their casting and the process they used to design and cast it.
Knotts said all of the axes met those standard requirements this year. “It was a stark contrast to last year’s with George Washington’s sword. We had a number of swords that were huge, very beefy,” chuckled Knotts.
Axe Testing at Cast in Steel 2026
“This was the fun part,” said Knotts about the horseman’s axe testing at Cast in Steel.
It started off with the qualification round where students did two tests:
After those tests, it was time for the judges’ tests:
The finals test pushed the axes and their blades even further.
As far as the final test? “The last test is a secret,” said Knotts. “You have to watch the TV show!”
Cast in Steel plans on airing a show on the competition in 2025 and this year’s. You can get updates on that TV show by clicking here.
Of the 52 axes tested at Cast in Steel, only 6 of them didn’t stand up to the testing and broke.
“Predominantly it was handle failures,” said Knotts. “It was either the head came loose or came off or the wooden handle broke. We had one team that used a D2 tool steel handle and that snapped right in half.”
Nick Knotts’ Favorite Part of Judging at Cast in Steel
“There were so many great parts of judging,” said Knotts. “I would say it was interacting with people, primarily the students. Getting to talk to them about “explain your casting to me,” and “how you used the casting” and “what you learned.”
His favorite question was “based on what you learned, what would you have done differently?” Knotts said a lot of the students came through with really interesting answers.
Nick also enjoyed interacting with his fellow judges like Ben Abbott, David Baker and Pat Nowak, as well as the staff and people he’s known for years through the Steel Founders Society of America (SFSA).
He said while judging he was looking for several things including “how good of a job did they do leveraging the strength of their casting process?” Also, “how well did they account for the weaknesses?” which kind of rolls in with “how hard was it to make the design with their chosen casting process?” He also wanted to see how they demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of the casting process.
“If I was asked to do it again, I would say yes before the question was out of whoever was asking’s mouth!” said Knotts.
Best Sand Casting Axe and Best Investment Casting Axe
Nick was in charge of judging the Best Sand Casting and Best Investment Casting at this year’s Cast in Steel competition in Grand Rapids.
The Best Sand Casting went to the “Blazing Steel” team from the University of Alabama-Birmingham. “They made a casting that was really difficult to make with the sand casting process,” said Knotts. “It actually had a design which was really, really interesting for a sand casting. It was actually a dragon head breathing fire onto the axe head.”
Nick said the UAB “Blazing Steel” team really demonstrated an amazing understanding of the casting process and leveraged it pretty well. “It was so well designed, so well made. I absolutely loved it.”
As far as the Best Investment Casting, that went to the “Milwaukee Molten” team from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Although it was fairly simple, they made an investment casting all in one piece that looked really, really nice,” said Knotts. He went on to say they did a great job explaining why they were doing what they were doing throughout the casting process. “Actually how they risered the casting and oriented the casting in the mold was pretty innovative.”
Who won the grand award? Well, as Nick said earlier you’ll have to wait for the TV show. For updates on the Cast in Steel TV show, sign up for the competition’s email update list.
Nick’s Involvement with Michigan Tech’s “Steel Toed Boots” Team
For the second straight year, Nick and the team at Lawton Novi worked with the “Steel Toed Boots” team from Michigan Tech for the Cast in Steel competition.
“I wouldn’t say I was necessarily part of the team,” said Knotts. “I mean they really made the whole design themselves, we did give them one little thing of feedback pretty early on. All we really did was pour the casting, shake it out and facilitate the heat treatment.”
Knotts went on to say the “Steel Toed Boots” did all the grinding, all the sharpening, polishing and everything else.
“In terms of casting, they broke my heart,” said Knotts. The team ended up forging the handle of the casting. “I didn’t feel like I could let a casting that had been forged win.”
Nick went on to say he was impressed with the team’s video and report this year. He said what really hurt them in the testing portion of the competition was that their axe itself was too short.
“A lot of teams made shorter axes,” said Knotts. “A lot of them got nailed in testing. Part of the reason is that historically you swing this axe from a horse while you’re riding. If your axe is short, you’re bending down trying to kill the guy by your side or your trying to reach across to another horseman. If the axe is too short, you have to lean out and expose your body or get closer, both of which don’t typically fair well for survival.”
Nick said the reason “Steel Toed Boots” axe was short is because they cast the axe in one piece. Other teams generally used wooden handles to better meet the weight requirements. If the “Steel Toed Boots” made a longer axe in one piece, it probably would have been too heavy.
Knotts was impressed with the team’s growth versus last year’s competition. “They definitely have grown, definitely have gotten better and they definitely seemed more organized this year too.”
The Future of the Foundry Industry is Bright
“I would say the future of the foundry industry is very bright,” said Knotts. “Cast in Steel is a large part of that and I don’t think the competition gets nearly enough credit for what it is doing for the future of the industry.”
The Cast in Steel competition is a great chance for student to get actual, real experience with castings. It also helps dispel the notion that castings are antiquated, they’re dirty and they don’t really have a place anymore.
“When they get involved in Cast in Steel and they actually make castings, a lot of them really grow to love it.” Said Knotts. “I talked to a few students at the competition who were like “Nick, how do I get more involved in the casting industry?”
Nick says the big thing is the hands-on experience for the students. The other critical part of this competition is the sponsor involvement. “Part of what makes Cast in Steel so special is the engagement with the industry sponsor. I think it’s both a good thing for the industry sponsors to get involved. They get to meet the students, they get to guide these students. And from my perspective, you get to learn from these students.”
Knotts added that these students don’t have the shackles of being in the industry for years. They have fresh ideas, they are willing to go try things a lot of industry experts would never have thought of.
“It’s not just that we need people. It’s that we need new ideas. We’ve been making castings the same way for a long time, innovation has slowed, that’s got to change. We need to develop new ways to make castings, we need to push the boundaries what can be a casting and we need to bring these young people into the industry, to quite frankly, stimulate it,” said Knotts.
Cast in Steel TV Series
For the past two years, a production company has filmed the Cast in Steel competition hoping to turn it into a television series. They are still actively trying to find the right fit when it comes to a network or streaming platform.
This year’s Cast in Steel show was filmed at Grand Valley State University, right down the road from the AFS Metalcasting Congress in Grand Rapids.
“Grand Valley State did a great job hosting us,” said Knotts. “The location was much roomier than last year’s. The ceilings were higher and it was easier for the students to move in and out.”
You can sign up for the Cast in Steel TV show email list, where you will receive email updates of when and where these episodes will be aired.