Hi guys!
Sometimes i find that when re-cast my metal trees or any used metal, the metal doesn’t flow as well as it does with new casting grain. Does anyone have good methods of cleaning their metal (especially Sterling silver) so i know its clean and will flow okay?
thanks! Any help is so appreciated!
Ava
As log as you’re sure that it’s uncontaminated (run a magnet over it and pick out anything odd with tweezers etc.) I just boil mine in water with a little detergent (Dawn), rinse dry, pickle and it’s ready to go. I usually add about 5% fine silver to it.
Somebody tell me I’m weird!
Just send your scrap silver to your refiner. I just sent 250 grams of my metal and now my caster can work with cleaner metal, so should you!.
Gerry, On my iPhone!
OK Tony,
You’re weird.
I look the boiling in water Werth dish soap.
I just pickle mine overnight, ultrasonic it, and add 50% new metal.
Eileen
Great advice thanks guys! 
Depending on the alloy, many of them can be reused multiple times before you need to send it in for refining, but at a minimum you want to get all of the oxides and any flux residue off the metal by cleaning, picking and I like to throw it into the tumbler.
Is anyone from the NY area and can recommend a good refinery?
I agree. I reuse almost all my metal—as much as I can—by remelting and pouring ingots. One thing to watch out for is pickling: Be sure that all the pickle is removed before remelting.
I found on many occasions that if my off-site caster uses my old silver, the metal is prone in getting pin-holes, just where I hate to have them. He now refuses to recast the old stuff. My “essay-demo’s” MUST be without any defects…anywhere!
***Gerry Lewy ***