my dad brought home a small bottle of mercury, as a budding scientist
i had the miracle heavy liquid metal rolling around the dining room
table, chasing after all the little balled up mercury (high surface
tension). Then i remember putting it on the stove "just to see"and of
course is boiled off into really something deadly. the chemistry sets
of the 50’s could make some really good stuff like hydrogen sulfide
(dangerous rotten egg smell). Then there were the Erector sets with a
gazillion little nuts and bolts (nobody choked that i knew of) and on
and on. Any of you out there ex child adventurers?
zev
ps i used to coat dimes, Marlin, didn’t know you could coat pennies,
live and learn.
I agree with all of this too. But it does make your jewelry more
expensive than others who buy some of all of their goods from China
and then under price you. You just have to explain and hope they
understand.
We also do the same with our engineering company Turner Designs,
we’re small, but everything is designed and built in the U.S.A. We are
constantly told we are nuts for not outsourcing, but we believe our
quality speaks for itself.
The hardest part is teaching my daughters; they want the newest
fashions now and on their budgets, they’re not ready yet. But they
do try.
I agree about the tea and silk and other Chinese goods like jade
carvings and their artwork, but not U.S. outsourced jobs!
I found a spot price for Cd at $1.40 / lb., another at $1.50 / lb.
Bismuth was $8.40. I saw tin for $6.78. Antimony (per Mt) is $6550
or almost $3 / lb. So cadmium is definitely cheaper.
Given that they might truly be making alloys that are 40% or more
cadmimum. I had no idea it was so inexpensive.
Yea, it’s a wonder I’m still alive, or even made it past 12 yrs old.
We made CO2 cartridge rockets with straws on strings, made
napalm(kind of) with gasoline and gelatin from the drugstore,
handmade gunpowder with charcoal and various drugstore components,
tried to scuba dive with garden hose air supply to the bottom of a
water-filled gravel pit (it takes a lot of air to fill a 50ft
hose-duh). Made some sorta concoction with sulphur and sugar and
other ingredients from my chem set and burned/melted a 5ft section of
nap from brand new carpet as well as holes in the porcelain stove
finish (not a good day when Mom & Dad pulled in driveway seconds
after this meltdown occurred). Hand dug underground caverns for
various wars and battles with imaginary foes. Giant slingshots made
from trees and tire inner tubes that could shoot a 5-10 lb rock 100
ft or more. There are loads more tales of this ilk but not enough
time or space to list even half.
We are constantly told we are nuts for not outsourcing, but we
believe our quality speaks for itself.
I hear similar statements a lot, and to a great extent, it’s true,
but don’t get complacent. The Chinese are perfectly capable of making
very high quality goods and still undercutting US prices. Not
everything made in China is junk.
I don’t know how many of you are old enough to remember when
Japanese products were all junk and nobody worried about competition
from them.
I found a spot price for Cd at $1.40 / lb., another at $1.50 / lb.
Bismuth was $8.40. I saw tin for $6.78. Antimony (per Mt) is $6550
or almost $3 / lb. So cadmium is definitely cheaper.
Pot metal also includes Zinc, which is under $1.00 per lb.
Your googling found the right tool. They are expensive. I will pass
on saying how much I paid for mine.
But so far, the instrument has theoretically paid for itself. That
is, I have identified a salvable value about twice what the
instrument cost. Now to go sell it.
I found a spot price for Cd at $1.40 / lb., another at $1.50 / lb.
Bismuth was $8.40. I saw tin for $6.78. Antimony (per Mt) is $6550 or
almost $3 / lb. So cadmium is definitely cheaper.
Pot metal also includes Zinc, which is under $1.00 per lb.
That is probably the rest of the metal in the pieces that are 40%
cadmium.