Back to the silver casting, it has been far too long

I am back to casting silver into fun objects for people

I promised i would make a friend a building brick from some scrap silver once i had enough and now i do so let me show you how sand casting works with petrobond, this is great fun and a nice way to use your scrap silver if you nickel and dime your stack.

First thing when casting an item is to cover it in talc and use a fine brush to make sure everything is covered as this acts as a release agent from the petrobond type sand, then one half of the mould is placed flat and sand is packed around it. Once that is done talc is added to one side so the two halves of the mould dont stick together and the other half is then packed with sand and compressed.

The mould is pulled apart and the brick is tapped to free it up and gently teased from the mould being careful to not damage the sand, this is very difficult and bits always fall out, a channel is cut to allow the silver to flow into the hollow left behind and the mould is clamped shut.

Next the silver is heated up in a furnace, my furnace is an electric and it is set to 1150c and the neat thing is if i do this on a sunny day it is free as the solar panels produce more than enough.

The molten silver is poured into the top and fills the hollow, this is the moment where you pray to the casting gods for a good pour.

After a few mins i cracked open the mould for my first glimpse of the brick, i am pleased as the mould has filled and very little flashing is on the brick.

I put the brick into my vice and had a bit of card inside to catch any silver dust that falls from cutting and filing, i first cut off the sprue with my hacksaw.

Next was to file the edges to remove any flashing, this was fairly quick as the mould was made quite well.

A quick sand to remove any file marks and then another sand moving up through the grits.

Next step was a quick sand on a sanding wheel and then on to a polishing mop, this gets the brick 90% there but you can polish the top or bottom

To get the hard to reach places i use a rotary tumbler filled with stainless steel shot, water and a tiny amount of dish soap. This peens and polishes the silver to a nice finish.

Job done and then it was time for a sit down with a beer by the pond and listen to the radio.

So today was gonna be quiz day but only one person entered and they won 1 hive by default which will be paid tomorrow, i will be knocking the quiz on the head for now.

Answers 1 Phillipines 10 Centavos 2 Australia 50 cents 3 Germany 50 pfennig 4 Czech Republic 2 Koruny 5 Cyprus 20 cents 6 Canada 2 Dollars 7 Ceylon 5 cents 8 Denmark 25 ore 9 Ecuador 5 centavos 10 Germany 10 pfennig

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