[Roger Thornhill]

I'd like to cast some small silver jewelry, but need info from those who've actually done it. I've been looking for info on the net, but a lot of it is conflicting. Some say an electric furnace is best, others say gas is the only way to go. Some say to use one compound for flux, others say use another (one site even says the only flux to use is Karo syrup!).

I've poured lead soldiers a loooong time ago, and cast bullets more recently, but I have no experience with temperatures nearing 2000 degrees. Any silversmiths out there?

[Disaster Cat]

I'll ask my husband, he and housemate are starting to do this as a business. If he doesn't have time to write, he may be able to recommend a book or two - Disaster Cat

[SmartAZ]

It's not a big deal, except that you want sand under you, not concrete or wood. Your sand pit needs to be about 4 feet square, just big enough to turn around safely. You can get by without the sand pit if you're very well coordinated, or don't mind getting your feet burned occasionally. But don't ever work near anything flammable (such as your house).

Most places I have been have at least one jewelry supply store nearby, and they will give you all the guidance you need.

I hope you know about vacuum casting. If you don't, your jewelry will look awfully lousy! But don't pay the prices asked for a vacuum pump, just get a ten buck aspirator from a plumbing supplier.

Furnaces: gas can explode. It's not likely, but it's possible. Other than that, use anything that gets hot enough. My father did a lot of casting with a gasoline blowtorch type plumber's furnace. I have used butane, propane, and MAPP. MAPP is hotter.

Flux: Mix borax and boric acid. It's cheap and it's the only flux I ever heard of for silver. It can also be used for soldering. Just moisten it so it will stick to the parts.

[Roger Thornhill]

SmartAZ,

Thanks for the info. I already have a small vacuum pump, and have ready access to borax and boric acid. Do you know the ratio to mix them in, either by weight or volume?

Also, I had planned to do this in my back yard. Will a low ambient temperature (approximately 30 degress F) mess up my process, or should I build some sort of hooded enclosure and let the melting furnace preheat the surrounding air?

Edited to add: What do you recommend for a crucible? I'd planned to use a small stainless steel cruet, but maybe I should pop for a commercial crucible instead.

[SmartAZ]

Find a supplier and/or a book and follow that guidance. I have always used whatever was available. You are probably going to use whatever your supplier sells.

And don't worry about details. Casting is not as complicated as baking a cake, although it's more dangerous.

[Cipher]

Stainless steel cruet? Surely you jest! You need regular tools and equipment. You'd need a crucible dedicated to just silver, otherwise you will contaminate your silver, and most of it will not come out of the "cruet" at all!

Silver is tricky to cast. Please do yourself a huge favor and take a class on lost wax casting at a local art studio.... You'll pay a small bit of money, but what you will save yourself in "learning the hard way" will be invaluable. You also will likely get to use the studio there, just paying for studio time, but that would be wayyy cheaper than buying all the equipment outright.

You need investment to "invest" the wax model. Ready to buy a 20 -50 pound container? It absorbs water from the atmosphere, so it's perishable. Can you use it that fast?

You need the rubber ends to sprue up your models. You need to make them just so, so that the progressive solidification happens correctly.

You need flasks to put the investment in. You need a vacuum table and a bell jar to remove the air from the investment.

You need a steam dewaxer and or kiln to do the burnout. This must have an electronic temp control so that the temps can be varied for the different phases of dewaxing and burnout.

You need a helper with long tongs to carry the extremely hot flask and to lay it in the cradle, as you will be busy holding your torch over the molten silver, and being ready to release the arm of the casting machine.

You need a centrifugal casting arm and cruicibles to hold the metal. You need to learn how to use these so that your metal doesn't go flying, so that you don't "burn" your silver and on and on.

If you take a class you'll see the equipment and knowledge required to do silver casting. It takes some training, and experience before one is proficient. Even with all this, silver is harder to cast than the gold alloys due to fire scale.

Do yourself a favor, Roger, take a class. I knew a guy who just rented studio space and made his items for sale there, rather than buying his own equipment. Since he had a very specialty business, he had plenty of business, because no one else was making what he was. This could possibly work for you, too.

Good luck and have fun!

[Shadowfane]

The bashful silver smith in the family says yer prolly not gonna do this for Christmas this year....

She suggests that you trundle out to the local college, Adult Ed, and get a basic jewelery class.....

You Do need different respirator filters than lead, and the temp as she represents it is a bit hotter but not that much...

Class is GOOD.....

Always follow the recipe the FIRST time....

shadowfane