Sand Casting Jewelry

[oroblanco]

Hola amigos,

With your stones all polished up and ready to mount - how do you make the metal parts of jewelry? I found this site on Sand Casting jewelry, which sounds pretty interesting
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/sand-casting.htm

Has anyone here ever tried this? Any pointers or tips, how to get started in it? Thank you in advance,
Roy

[roc2rol]

What a fascinating process and art!
From what I’ve read about casting of metal object it is fine old art!
Perhaps you have some sites or pics of casted jewelry, Roy?

If you haven’t already previewed You Tube there are video of sand casting,
I’d recommend some but on this slo mo dum
I haven’t taken the time to view any

Anyway wish I could speak directly to this but I have no ‘hands on’ knowledge
but I have lots of ideas!
Ed

[oroblanco]

No I sure don't have any pics or sites, and probably can't do much about experimenting with this for a while but I want to learn what to do and NOT to do so that when I have the time (and some worn out silver dimes etc) I can try my hand at it. I saw a fellow over in Asia on TV making jewelry using nothing but a chunk of burning wood and a straw to blow on it (to make it burn hot enough to melt the silver) then poured into a sandstone that was split. It is the way swords, spears, tools etc were made back in the Bronze Age (hence the story of the "Sword in the Stone" king Arthur legend, which tells you how old that story really is) so it can't be that complicated.

Thanks amigo - will let you know when I try this and how it works out.
Roy

[roc2rol]

Man Roy you never cease to amaze!
The Sword in the Stone !
I never thought it might have occurred that way!
from a sword being casted
That’s amazing!

an ancient art for sure
Smelting ore and casting-- ingots !
one wonders if clay pots were used first ?
once you make a hollow vessel
that can be broke away from melted and froze substance
the possibilities become endless!!

heres' a couple of images from a museum i visited today


and to inpire you!



i'll have some silver to contribute !

[oroblanco]

Cool pix amigo! Hey I have another dumb question for you - I read somewhere that Navajos used leather to polish jewelry ("back in the day") is that true? How would leather actually polish jewelry? I know how a leather 'strop' works for sharpening knives etc, it isn't the leather that does the sharpening it is the rouge or powdered crocus mixed with lard that is smeared on the leather that really does the sharpening. Does leather polish stones and metal, without having something put on it? Thank you in advance,
Roy

[roc2rol]

O man Roy ! Now you ask a most eso-technical question!
The art of finished polishing of stones ! And what an art!
I swear some have the innate ability. A fine high sheen!
Hard to master!

In the stropping process the leather just straightens the microscopic fine burrs (or teeth) of the razor edge. Once these burr teeth are aligned into a straight edge the razor is at its most wickedly sharp. Eventually the burr teeth will unaligned or bend over and stropping is once again applied to realign the burr teeth. Same principle for a steel used on butcher knives.

But it is called Rawhide! In it natural form it may have an abrasive quality . Who knows? Given enough time, action & will power!!! just leather might polish certain stones or steel. But it wouldn’t take long to realize that the leather is an excellent base material to hold a abrasive grit. --- whatever that may be.
Your crocus, rouge or diamond paste or what I use cerium oxide.

It all comes down to a finer & finer grit. From roughing to polishing. Ultimately there is always a chemical reaction that occurs at the surface of the stone. A certain friction that get the surface molecules of the stones to flow with the slurry. Those magical properties create shine. But there is as many variation as there are minerals, people & ideas! Experimentation!

Cerium oxide is a strange case! Used for polishing glass and many stones. The thing is that cerium is a fairly soft malleable metal. On the mohs hardness scale, its mineral content, comes in at 2.5. Glass is rated at 5.5. So how does material softer polish something harder? O the mysteries and the theories abound!
Ed

[roc2rol]

No I sure don't have any pics or sites, and probably can't do much about experimenting with this for a while but I want to learn what to do and NOT to do so that when I have the time (and some worn out silver dimes etc) I can try my hand at it. Roy

Is there anything specific you have in mind to make?
Belt buckles, bracelet, ect… ?
I guess zinc toy solder were a casting phenomenon
many did it at home cause zinc as such a low melting point
unfortunately its not considered a very noble metal
but its inexpensive and pennies are plentiful… E

[oroblanco]

Hola amigo,
I have some ideas, but would need to make up patterns (carved wood of course) so it is going to take some time. I hadn't thought about zinc, it does melt almost as easy as lead. I found that out by accident - had a couple of pennies sitting on top of the old wood stove, and had a hot fire one particularly frigid night, and presto! Liquid zinc rolling around on the top of the stove! The pennies left a little shriveled up "skin" of copper, almost as thin as tin foil. What garbage our modern coins are made up of.

Zinc (or "pot metal") is used for cheap kids jewelry, I don't know how it would look if you made a buckle out of it but may have to try that before committing to melting silver.
Roy

[roc2rol]

Hola amigo,
I have some ideas, but would need to make up patterns (carved wood of course) so it is going to take some time. Roy

Balsa wood? Well something easy to carve heh?
Another angle that’s fascinating in this art is the
lost wax mould.

Here’s something we need to build Roy!



I’ve seen lots of 55 gallon can made into foundries
by knife makers. Not sure those designs
would be sufficient for melting metal…
ed

[oroblanco]

Hola amigo!

I built a charcoal foundry a few years back, sure wish I could have brought it along when we moved but it was just way too heavy and bulky. I experimented with melting aluminum, and sure enough it would melt that aluminum in a matter of minutes - however the crucible I used (a cast iron teakettle) proved to be absolutely impossible to POUR, so that ended it for our place sold and had to move before I got around to finding some kind of crucible you could manage without being seriously burned. I also built a little brake-drum forge, for playing with hot iron of course but it might work for melting small amounts of metal if I had some kind of ladle to melt it in.

That lost-wax casting method ought to work too - never tried that either but it would be much easier to carve wax than wood. When I get free time to fool with this (probably next winter) I want to try several methods.

Roy