When melting the silver into the hole in the steel plate, it doesn’t
stick? Do you put soot inside the hole first?
I’ve been making them on top of a charcoal block, but the larger
sizes become too flattened. I’d like to make larger ones.
Also, on the charcoal, the surface of the ball has minute wrinkles I
can’t seem to get rid of, except by grinding off, which leaves the
ball less than round. A chore when doing a lot of them. I’ve tried
tumbling them, but the balls are too small and probably don’t offer
enough resistance to the polishing media.
Does anyone know how to make them smoother? The wrinkles occut
whether letting them cool naturally on the charcoal block or
dropping them into water off the inclined block.
When melting them into the steel block, are they smooth?
Thanks
Lin
Lin, Using a steel block with the different sized holes (a dapping
block) does not cause the silver to stick because the block is so
large compared to the little bits of silver you are using. It is
like a big heat-sink and thesilver balls just roll up the sides and
back down creating a very smooth surface. You do have to keep your
dapping block clean but the finish is usually so nice and smooth all
it takes is a little wipe with a clean rag.
Here is a brass dapping block on eBay (<edit*>). I have never used
brass, but would imagine it would be good for yellow metals, don’t
know about silver. There are steel blocks available on eBay as well.
I usually don’t have any problems with the tools I have bought from
eBay, and they usually come with a money back guaranty.
Adios & g'day
Rick
AZopals
<edit* ton>Ebay link Removed</edit ton>