Hi,
one philosophy is that if you buy stock in limited gauges, and have the knowledge and set up to make your own stock, then you can (usually) make it, when you need it…out of saved clean scrap, or by rolling down, drawing, forging, forming existing stock, to the specs you need.
versus always ordering the specific gauges of fabricated stock needed, which has fabrication charges included in addition to the metal cost, as well as shipping costs and transit times…
and versus sending in your scrap for cash or credit, where you usually get back a percentage of the current metal value (but not the fab charges, shipping, other expenses related to the cost you originally paid when buying the metal…
specialty items could be an exception…
just my thoughts
julie
Greetings Per-Ove,
You are in a good place to get info from many friendly folks. Were it just me to tell you I would say you started when you started watching and asking questions. “How” and “Why” are good ones to start with. Rob and I had a leg up to start with because we grew up around a silversmith.
You can buy metal in the US from several sources. It may sound snarky but it is not meant to be, Just google it? Look for Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico or Hoover and Strong in North Chesterfield Virginia. But there are many others. The same goes for tools.
I don’t know about European precious metal suppliers.
Don
Per…Don and Julie have given you a good review of how we currently come by our stock. You should conclude that there is no one way. Silver is currently bought from Hoover and Strong, Rio and others based on a silver spot price of around $25+/-. It varies by the minute. A year ago this last March, you might remember what happened then, I think it was around $13. When I started making jewelry in 1973 it was about $2.50. In around 1976, two brothers decided to corner the silver market and drove price up to $50. I think that they both went to jail. For a long time it was in the $12 - $15 range. When your raw material varies in price this much, you develop a strategy that lets you have on hand what you need but at the lowest price. At $2.50, you don’t think twice about ordering 20 feet of 8 gauge wire, cutting off 1 foot, soldering, twisting, forging and polishing it into a bracelet and selling it for $45 thinking that you were making out like a bandit. I can’t think of the last time I bought 8 gauge wire much less made an 8 gauge bracelet. If I did, I would and actually, could, sell it for $200. At $2.50 you stock up and if you needed something, just buy more. It also helped that I could call my refiner of choice back then order over the phone, buy on credit and have what I needed delivered in a day or two for very little transportation cost. The last time that I tried to order from the same refiner, I was quoted a week to make and two weeks to deliver at about $30 transportation. Fast forward a few years and the purchase of two rolling mills and draw plates, building a draw bench, learning how to recycle scrap and cast it into ingots and a lot of the stock I work with now is partially recycled having been augmented with clean metal and the solder removed. I think alot about ways to keep from having to order new metal, but there comes a time when it is necessary, so I follow the spot and try to do it when the price is down. I try to order stock that can be reworked into other sizes and shapes as needed using the equipment that have in my shop. Don and I enjoy a market created by our father where we can make and sell large heavy bracelets and pendants, but we both have looked for ways to downsize old designs an come up with new designs that allow us to make that which is uique to us, but out of less metal. To this end we both use our Meco and Little Torches a lot more and have hung up our large acetylene torches. In the end, metal is just one component in your total price. You have to account for tools, supplies, advertising, shipping, legal and accounting expense and much more. All of these components play a part in the price of what you sell. Add labor and profit and the impact of the cost of metal goes down even more, but you still need to pay close attention to where that piece of metal came from that you are about to use and develop multiple strategies to fill this need. Sorry for the ramble, but I have been at this for a long time. However, I will never stop making jewelry as it is, and has for some time been, one of my biggest obsessions. Good luck…Rob
Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answers 
This is definitively a great forum, but quite dangerous for tool junkies like me.
Now I need a rolling mill. Pooh 
Regards Per-Ove
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hi Per,
i bought my rolling mill, an old Cavallin, from a jeweler friend who was retiring, so it was a bit less pricey than new.
it is 120mm…60mm for flat, and the other 60mm for square wire…which i can then draw down to round wire.
i wasnt shopping for a rolling mill at the time…but it was on my “big ticket item” wish list for “later”…and it was right there enticing me…and it was “on sale”…!
in hindsight, i would move it to my “must have” wish list for “now”…it is kind of “freeing” to be able to turn around and roll stuff down when you need a bit of something…
in hindsight, i would have preferred a bigger flat roller…at least 80mm…preferably 100mm
i dont have other wire profile rollers…
if i was buying new today, i think i would get 100mm flat and as many wire profiles as i could afford…
julie
I buy my metals from a certified gold/coin shop - I buy at spot value and send gold/ silver/ platinum out to be refined as from my readings… using metals you simply melt is not the best thing… and in some cases for example 10kt can lose metals in its mixture making it less then 10kt… now imagine stamping it/ calling it 10kt then you are now doing something quote illegal. I have seen peoples work with scrap gold and it just doesn’t look right - you can see the bubbles, some cracks… just looks like a piece of xxxx.