Making a new silver bar

So it has been sometime since i have made a chunky bar and waiting too get 100 grams got the better of me, i started with just over 80 grams of sterling silver and ended up with a 78.4 gram bar.

I did used a tad to much borax in the cricible so i stopped pouring early so i wouldnt have to chip it off the bar and the reason i didnt get a pic of the pouring because it was bloody cold in the shed but i did get one of warming up the ingot mould.

The bar turned out ok but i wanted it a little bit flatter and a more uniformed size, to achieve this i heated up the bar with a blow torch until it glowed a dull red and then quenched it in water as this softens the silver and makes it more workable.

To make the bar a little thinner and longer i put the bar through the rolling mill which squeezes it between two metal rollers, i put the bar through 4 times reducing every time and then annealed the bar and went another 4 times through the rolling mill.

Next step was to choose the stamps i wanted to use and i used an arbour press to make the stamp designs clear.
*Top tip - if you anneal the silver stamping is easier.

The last process was the polish the bar using my new buffing wheel fitted to my mini bench grinder, to get a good shine the wheel requires a polishing compound applying to the wheel and allowing the wheel to get to speed but not to fast and lightly pressing the silver next to the wheel.

Once done i gave the bar a polish with a soft cloth to remove the polishing compound and voila i am done.