How a foundry measures a bronze piece

We measure from the surface the piece stands on to the highest point of the cast body — not to the tip of a lid finial, unless the order says so. That is why our “60” incense burner stands about 57 cm under a tape, and why your 60 cm and ours can be two different pieces. Settle three things before the order: where the tape starts, where it stops, and which single dimension has to hold.

Where does the tape start and stop?

We cast by lost wax in Dong Quy village, Nam Truc, Nam Dinh. A finished piece is stood on a flat bench and measured with a steel tape. Height runs from the bench surface to the highest point of the cast body. Width is taken at the widest point of the body, usually across the handles, not across the base.

Anything that lifts off is measured on its own line: a lid, a finial, a loose crown. Our walls run 5 mm, and 8 mm where a piece takes load at handles, feet and the lid knob, so a lid is heavy enough that nobody should be guessing whether it was counted.

Does the quoted height include the lid, the finial or the handles?

Not unless it is written down. One incense burner has three honest heights: body only, body with the lid seated, and body with the lid and finial. The gap between the first and the third is large enough to lose an argument over.

Proportion is the other half of this. In a set off our floor the cranes stand 5–7 cm above the incense burner and the candlesticks sit 12–15 cm below it.

Which one dimension decides whether a piece fits the customer's altar?

Rarely the burner's height. It is the laid-out width of the whole set across the altar board, plus the burner's widest point at the handles — a set that clears the ceiling but not the board comes back. Name that controlling dimension in the order and we hold it; why the pieces are sized against each other is in reading a Vietnamese altar set.

How does a nominal size relate to a measured size?

A nominal size is a trade name, like a shoe size: “size 60” and “size 65” identify a model on our floor, they are not tape readings. A size 65 five-piece set weighs about 36 kg, and the “60” burner measures about 57 cm. Both have always been true at once.

Hand casting adds its own spread: 1–3 cm of variation is normal, over 5 cm is a fault we put right at our own cost. What that covers is in tolerances in hand casting.

How do I write dimensions into a purchase order?

A few lines per item keep every later conversation short:

• Model name and our size name, both.
• The controlling dimension, its two measuring points named in words.
• Assembled height, and whether a lid or finial sits inside that figure.
• Widest point, and where it is taken.
• Permitted variation as a figure, not “as per sample”.
• Weight per piece — the one number nobody can argue about.
• Units: one system throughout, not cm in the table and inches in the notes.

How weight and wall thickness belong on that same sheet is in bronze weight and wall thickness spec; the measuring points we work to are on specifications.

Who measures on arrival, and with what?

Someone at your end, with a steel tape, on a hard flat floor rather than carpet or a pallet. Measure three pieces per size, not one; photograph the tape against the piece with the reading legible; and weigh one piece per size, because weight catches thin metal a tape never will.

If a number looks wrong we would rather see it on a video call than in a claim. Casting runs 21–30 days from an approved sample, so there is time to re-measure before a crate closes. Buying agents in Vietnam, or buyers at our showrooms in Nam Dinh, Hanoi and Hai Phong, can put a tape on a piece themselves.

Questions buyers ask

Is the size printed on a piece its real height?

No, it is a model name. Ask for the tape reading and the measuring points for anything you will print in a catalogue.

Is the height measured with the lid on or off?

Off by default — body height to the rim — and we quote the assembled height alongside it. Whichever you are buying, put it in the order in those words.

A lot arrives 2 cm shorter than the order. Can I send it back?

2 cm sits inside normal hand-casting variation, so a return is not the remedy. Over 5 cm is a fault and we put that right at our own cost. Measure three pieces before deciding which case you have.

Should I write centimetres or inches on the order?

Centimetres, with inches in brackets if your catalogue needs them. Figures rounded twice through a conversion are how a 2 cm argument starts.

Who pays to re-measure when the two of us disagree?

We do, if the number on our drawing is wrong. Agree the measuring points before the lot runs and the question largely stops arising, because both sides read the same two points.