I poured two silver ingots today that I will roll through the rolling mill for stock. I have two different projects for these ingots. A man’s wedding ring and another custom order pendant. My ‘sheet’ ingot I did first and then a ‘tube’ ingot that will be a ring shank. They turned out fine, the tube being better than the sheet but it’s all good anyway. Your ingot mold which is the iron piece with the clamp needs to be warm when you pour so I have it on a hot plate and warm it with a torch. I showed a hand held propane torch like what a plumber would use but it takes forever to heat up your metal……. 15 minutes or more…. Oxygen added to your torch is much hotter and faster. In the summer I do this outside with a really big torch over some concrete or gravel. I hate doing it in the house, too much heat for my comfort zone…..
Why do this??? Well, it’s a 100% return on your investment of metal. You are not sending it out to a refiner and then ordering more ‘stock’ paying for shipping and getting at least a 25% whack in your pocket book for newly fabricated stock. It also only take a minute, very easy. Sorry I could not show you actually pouring the metal in the mold. You need two hands, and to pay attention. Once you get the metal to a completely molten state you need to keep the torch on it as you pour it into the mold. Obviously wear eye protection, a mask and leather gloves when you touch the mold after it’s all done. Enjoy your metal ingots for whatever they will be used for or just stack them in a pile like the Queen.
Nice! Thank you for sharing so much here……very helpful! Great pictures!