My own ingot mold

Jewelry Discussion
1

Can I make my own ingot mold by carving a littlle “line” into a block
of charcoal or magnesia? Most of the Ingot molds look a bit thick to
go straight to a mill.

2

Andrea, Yes you can at least I have done it in charcoal.Have you seen
Shindlers list? They make a ring in a charcoal block. J Morley Coyote Ridge Studio

3 
Can I make my own ingot mold by carving a littlle "line" into a block
of charcoal or magnesia? Most of the Ingot molds look a bit thick to
go straight to a mill.

That’s a trick I often use. I’ll file a flat area on an old charcoal
block, take a disk shaped bur and cut a groove, dip a few pieces of
casting grain into my battern’s flux, and melt them right in the
groove. When they’re ready to flow, I flatten them into the groove
with a bench block, which freezes them up. File off any flash, and
you’re ready to mill it down. Go slow at first, anealling after each
light pass untill you get about a 25% reduction in cross section so
as not to crack the material. Also, try to keep it going through the
mill in the same direction with each pass, but rotate it 90 degrees
each time. To accomplish this, just as you catch it coming out the
far end of the mill, lift up very slightly. That will bend the end a
bit so you can tell which way to rotate it next pass and which end is
to enter the mill first. You can’t do this when the ingot is heavy,
so just file a nick in one end to start. Now the ingots I make in
this way are seldom larger than 1/4 inch square in the cross section
and no longer than 1 & 1/2 inch long, in fact, usually smaller than
that.

David L. Huffman

4

David, in your post marked “my own ingot mold” you wrote :keep it
going through the mill in the same direction with each pass,but
rotate 90 degrees each time. So that sentence confuses me. Can you
explain that in any other way that my very small brain could
understand? I’m thinking " keep walking north, but turn left each
time". I know there’s something about this I’m missing. Thanks for
helping a remedial jeweler “trytobe” (like a wannabe,
but working at it). NET

5

Sorry, I was a bit to confident my own visual image would be
conveyed. I’ll try again. Your ingot is actually a square rod. You
want to always enter the same end into the mill each time. But, you
rotate the rod, as a screw would turn, 90 degrees each time you put
it through. Picture this: You are holding the end of the rod, the other
end is pointed into a notch on the rollers. . .you turn your wrist,
without letting go, clockwise, thumb going from 12 o’clock to 3
o’clock, then stick the end in the notch and turn the handle. This
just assures the stock is compressed as evenly as possible and the
microstructures are elongated smoothly in one direction. If you’re
carefull with reduction in the early stages, you’ll be less likely to
experience the stock shredding just as you take it through the last
of sixteen holes on your draw plate. Hope this helps.

David L. Huffman

6

Andrea, Yes you can at least I have done it in charcoal.Have you seen
Shindlers list? They make a ring in a charcoal block. J Morley Coyote
Ridge Studio

Heck, Brian Adam has great fun casting rings just in a carved
depression on a wood stump, not even charcoal. Turns this into both
items he sells, and a cool demo for a workshop activity with students,
too.

Peter Rowe

7

you can, but it leaves porosity and wavy lines in the metal, which
increases filing. best to is to buy a proper ingot mold. cost is about
$40.

Mark Zirinsky
Denver, CO