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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 23 6:57 pm Post subject: ages ago.... |
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.... might have mentioned backyard alchemy and gold refining
several years ago i gave tt a 11 gram blob beaten into a rather cute pendant
short version , i cant be bothered to get it assayed, tis almost close to fine so who cares, if weighed in after x ray refraction there is about £500 of metal in it
so it has been pending, the mount to take a chain will be practical and easy, bend a bit of wire and weld it in is crude, silk and two tiny jet beads, with a few wraps of fine silver wire for strength and light resistance
the gold is makume gane gold with a white red and yellow mix
very pretty metal
i have not tried to photo that sort of thing, but as a scrapbag challenge it seems to be something i should share the how to do
tis oddly easy once the method is understood, it took me a while to refine the method
if the wt/volume/density is a rough measure, this went from 325 to well over 900
it is a bit of a nasty process, getting zinc out is horrid and needs a good breeze, copper ends up oxidizing and soaking into the dish or getting dissolved in acid by dropping a just solid blob into 35% hcl:roll:
metal is ace, bit hard to justify environmentally, probably unhealthy
i will admit to liking shiny, tis nice to work with, silver is a bit moody, shiny forgives with more grace
beating a blob of good stuff is a pleasure that i am probably too late in life to learn properly, turning low grade scrap into good shiny is possible at small scale with basic kit |
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15932
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15932
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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Posted: Sun Nov 05, 23 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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i started metal as soon as i could hold a saw and file, stood on a box at a choice of fitter's or smith's vice
metal is nice as a material and as bits of a thing
i got arty/artisany with small metal after quite a bit of working with big bits and machines and making stuff the shops do not stock
metals are a mixed bunch and then alloys add to the fun
it might have been best if humans had not got beyond bashing a few bits of shiny from alluvial nuggets to keep the dreadlocks in place
we are where we are, metal is nice to work with(most of the time) and very useful as well as pretty, useful bits can be pretty as well
i am not a metal expert, im not even expert in the metals i can use, i can often make some of them do what i want, sometimes they surprise me
every time is a learning experience, be it polishing cloud hamon steel or putting the correct labels on sodium that was mostly sodium azide
that last mention could include a mention of "if you did not read the paperwork it is not my problem you destroyed your hazchem facility"
some metals are moody, a part used can of sodium that was 30yrs old was at the top end of moody, having found it in my stores at work i waved it off in a bomb truck with a plastic roof and the right paperwork
when it arrived, they threw it in the incinerator, nobody was killed and i was not going to even contemplate them trying to avoid and deflect blame for a 6 month closure and a new incinerator
some metals are moody, metal compounds can be very moody as well
i am more cautious about casting after i had a bit of a mould volcano with a kilo of aluminium
another not my fault, i told the "experts" the mould needed at least two more days in the kiln to dry it and burn out the wax
at college, "the experts" were about a quarter of those in the job and less in metal manipulation
metal is magical even if you read technical stuff about it or play at using it
as a historical experiment, i rather fancy at the top of a beach with cassiterite sand, scraped azurite and blackthorn charcoal
25 yrs too late for me, i recon bronze bloom is possible with a mixed smelt |
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15932
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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