• Forum server maintanace Friday night.(around 7PM Centeral time)
    Website will be off line for a short while.

    You may need to log out, log back in after we're back online.

A Little Fun With My Beach Silver Finds

jjm861

Elite Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
1,861
Location
Southern CA.
So....it was my birthday a few weeks ago and my lovely wife asks, "What do you want for your B-Day"? I answered, "A melting furnace". She goes on to say let me guess, "It has something to do with your detecting hobby".....As she begins roll her eyes:lol::lol:

I have been fortunate to find a few pounds of sterling over the years here on the beached of So. Cal. I guess I can not get enough of this hobby, so what better way to waste my time making .925 silver bars. Kidding aside, it has been fun so far....what you see is my first attempt at a silver bar pour. If all else, they should make for great little gifts for birthdays, Christmas etc.

If you look closely you can see I stamped the silver weight in Troy Oz., and added a very small .925 stamp. I even punched my signature avatar....Mr. Starfish:D:D

Good Luck....Be Safe....Jeff.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1380.jpg
    IMG_1380.jpg
    59.9 KB · Views: 281
  • IMG_1379.jpg
    IMG_1379.jpg
    66.4 KB · Views: 259
  • IMG_1378.jpg
    IMG_1378.jpg
    41.1 KB · Views: 252
  • IMG_1381.jpg
    IMG_1381.jpg
    70.2 KB · Views: 263
Nice job on the melt.Heres one I picked up a couple months ago.Hey,got any info on what you used to melt it ?
 

Attachments

  • 141.jpg
    141.jpg
    31.9 KB · Views: 228
That is such a cool thing to do! :yes:
 
I agree with all of the above, Very Cool! Next thing I see you will casting silver in a starfish shape..
 
I agree with all of the above, Very Cool! Next thing I see you will casting silver in a starfish shape..
That right there is original! 1 oz. starfish shapes :yes:
 
What setup are you using? I've been contemplating doing this for a long time. I constantly have access to cheap silver so that side is covered.
 
Did you grease up the mold and if so what did you use? Any of the silver leak into the mold yet? I've done gold before but not silver... staring at about 1lb of black crusty silver right now and debating to mold a bar or send it to a factory and make a coffee cup
 
This is pretty cool and would condense my silver (save safe space):)
Question: would a smeltor accept a generic bar like this? We've all heard of the gold bars filled with Tungsten cores discovered a few years back. I'm just wondering if a smeltor would take your word for it as being a solid block of 925.
 
Nice job on the melt.Heres one I picked up a couple months ago.Hey,got any info on what you used to melt it ?

Hey RTR,

There are a couple of different melting techniques for making poured silver bars. You can use the ceramic crucible method or the melt furnace method. I am using the Hardin brand furnace which I picked up on feebay.

If any of you are interested in this process, I would suggest looking on Youtube. Simply type in "making silver bars". There are dozens of videos that helped me through the process.

Be careful....this process can be dangerous.
 
Did you grease up the mold and if so what did you use? Any of the silver leak into the mold yet? I've done gold before but not silver... staring at about 1lb of black crusty silver right now and debating to mold a bar or send it to a factory and make a coffee cup

I am using graphite molds, so there is no need to grease before you pour.
 
This is pretty cool and would condense my silver (save safe space):)
Question: would a smeltor accept a generic bar like this? We've all heard of the gold bars filled with Tungsten cores discovered a few years back. I'm just wondering if a smeltor would take your word for it as being a solid block of 925.

Aloha Aquaman,

Great Question....here is my guess. If you send gold and silver to refiners like ARA or Midwest, they are not concerned with what markings your items have i.e Karat stamps etc. I forget the technical term they use for assaying, but for a lack of a better explanation, they dissolve your items and then determine what the actual karat or silver content you send in. I am guessing it would be the same if you send in hand poured bars.
 
This is a great idea Jeff! I am definitely interested in doing this. Don't forget guys, United States coin silver is .900 and not sterling.
 
This is a great idea Jeff! I am definitely interested in doing this. Don't forget guys, United States coin silver is .900 and not sterling.

Hey George....great call and reminder. If you guys are interested in doing this with your US silver coins, they even make a .900 stamp if you wish to mark your bars.
 
Thats really cool! The beauty of it is if you don't like the pour you can always re-melt and turn it into starfish or sumthin else. Cant wait till you open a bussiness were we can send all our 925 in for processing.
 
Back
Top Bottom