Yes, water weighs something, but I’m talking about the tables
that give the amount of investment to use dry. At $5/lb, my
flask will cost $18.
Jess
That is the price you pay for the kind of precision casting
dental technicians like Skip and my brother Mark strive for and
take entirely for granted. They are deadly serious about their
casting, and know alot about it. My brother learned from Bob
Stein in Boston, he is considered by many to be the father of
prosthetic dentistry. The investments Skip uses are formulated
to be cast at specific temperatures so that the expansion of the
investment counteracts the shinkage of the alloy.
That precision isn’t needed for most of what jewelers do, though
it is nice. Think about what a dentist charges for just one
crown, and what in turn, that dentist is charged for the lab
work. You could just get some Satin Cast from Kerr and store it
so that stays fresh. It has been about 20 years since I cast
anything myself, but Chrystobalite and Satin Cast were what I
liked.
Rick Hamilton
Richard D. Hamilton
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography