For a while I have bemoaned buying silver when I have lots of scrap, so after much procrastination ( scaredy cat) and with the help of numerous books and Andrew Berry, I finally did the molten dirty ...
First I had to purchase heat resistant solder boards to build a soldering station, I really did not want to burn down my workshop! I also needed an ingot mold to pour molten silver into, crucible and crucible holder, plus a biiig burner for my torch, big heat requires big burner! Here you can see scrap silver placed into the crucible awaiting its transformation.
Biiig torch doing its job - it is really beautiful at this point, it is necessary to bang the crucible on the surface and swirl that mercury looking glowing wonder around to remove anything that is not silver. The crucible must be placed next to the ingot so to warm the ingot, pouring molten silver into a cold ingot is a big no no, can result in exploding silver due to contraction of ingot mold! I guess you only do it once....
The ingot is poured and looks a little disappointing sitting cold and grey in the ingot, glowing molten glory no more! Its ashen appearence is due to exposure to air, but that is nothing that a dip in acid cannot cure!
Here we have lovely organic looking silver plucked out of the ingot post acid bath and the sheet silver I worked so hard for, this requires heavy duty hammering and numerous passings through the rolling mill. But it is worth it, recycled silver ready to be formed!
Fascinating. I had been wondering if you used 'new' or recycled silver, it has become so expensive recently. I've heard that silver is a lovely material to work with.
ReplyDeleteHello Katrina, recycling silver is a long overdue project for me, but I am so pleased I finally got the necessary equipment to go ahead with it, silver has gone up in price threefold making this project all the more satisfying! It is a lovely material to work with, the contrast from blackened pre-finished piece to first polish stage still gives me a buzz!
ReplyDelete