Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Melting & Casting Jewelry


Recommended Posts

I had a coworker approach me this morning and ask me about taking old jewelry (supposedly gold, but unconfirmed) and melting it down and recasting it into another piece of jewelry. First thing I did when asked was check the melting point of gold, which according to Google is over 1900 degrees F, which DOES NOT sound like something a first timer who has zero idea what they are doing should attempt. However, I highly doubt said jewelry is straight gold and likely some alloy which would make its melting point harder to determine.

Anyways, could some of you experts perhaps provide advice/resources I could provide to them? I have already explicitly stated that casting any metal is dangerous and really should not be attempted/done without guidance and knowing what you are doing. I am already on the fence about trying to guide them as they did not know some of the basics like preheating the mold. I will likely push them to go to a local smith who does casting and have it done under supervision or just be done by said smith.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of the Community Colleges I have knowledge of; had a jewelry making course or 5 that will teach one how to work with the precious metals and they generally have one that deals with casting.  I would take the courses *or* talk with the Instructor(s) about having something made.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is what I was pushing them more towards, going to someone who knows what they are doing and can assist/supervise or do it for them but they are very intent on doing it themselves at home.

I will ask if there is a karat stamp on them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  Have you operated a new one lately?  It's like rocket technology.  Push button, joystick, lcd screen, you name it.  I had the good fortune a couple of years ago to test out a new Cat front end/wheel loader.  Very few hours on it.  You could program the bucket scooping and dumping positions and then just push a button.  The company bought it to move railcars around with a coupler mounted on the front instead of a bucket.   I recommended that they disable some of that stuff....:)  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...