A sand block was developed for direct machining with a numerical contorol machine. The sand block has a cutting resistance of 30N which is as small as 1/300 that of steel block. Especially, sand blocks made of fine spherical particles have better dischargeability and dimensional accuracy, thus providing excellent machinability. Direct machining of a sand block reduces molding time. For example, it takes merely four hours to complete the mold for the cylinder head cover of an automobile engine.