[Jewelry making - Article 00620] - Re: [Orchid] Casting Nickle Silver

[David L. Huffman]

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Hi Franklin;

>     I have a customer who has asked me to cast small hardware in
>     nickel silver. 

    Nickel silver is really just nickel, I'm pretty sure. It's not an
    easy metal to cast, it's hard to melt. I'll bet you'll hate it. Why
    not try one of the bronze alloys like white bronze or caster's
    bronze? Rio Grande has a nice selection of non-precious casting
    metals. Pewter is a breeze to cast, you can cast it directly into a
    silicon rubber mold, but you're not going to find it easy to have
    plated, and of course, it's pretty soft, but it's pretty and if the
    sections are thick it's strong enough. Bronze will plate pretty
    easily, but you'd be advised to have a specialist handle it for you.
    It'll probably need to have a copper flash, then a nickel coat, then
    whatever you like after that. Silver might not be good choice if it's
    going to be handled a lot, since it's going to have to be very thick
    if it's not going to wear off. Better with just the nickel plate. 

David L. Huffman

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