Crow#21957
50 Cal.
It will be awhile before I'm ready but wanted to know,,, do I need to heat sandcast silver before bending to fit like a trigger gaurd. I learned the hard way that you do heat the iron triggergaurds before bending.
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Sandcast silver.
- Thread starter Crow#21957
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Crow#21957
50 Cal.
Thanyou for the help. I have another question. The triggergaurd I received ,,which I believe was the last one. It has a small but obvious chunk that is missing. Can I use the low melt solder Tow sells to fill this or pewter. I would think low melt solder should be good.
Thanks again.
Ferrous metals (iron, steel) should be bent when a black-red hot. If you try that with brass, german silver, or silver, the piece will break. With those metals heat then dunk in water to anneal them-they will bend easier after that treatment. Anneal frequently as you work because they will work-harden and get brittle again.
You could fill the hole with a solder, but it will show as the triggerguard ages and gets a patina. Contact your supplier and see if you can get one without casting flaws.
You could fill the hole with a solder, but it will show as the triggerguard ages and gets a patina. Contact your supplier and see if you can get one without casting flaws.
Crow#21957
50 Cal.
Thankyou Rchas
How hot for quenching the silver. To a faint glow or not.
How hot for quenching the silver. To a faint glow or not.
Comfortably_Numb
The Evil Mike Brooks
Soft solder will fill your hole. If your working with fine or sterling silver, it will work harden RAPIDLY. You will probably have to anneal often.
A faint pink glow is fine. you don't want to get them as hot as you would steel; there is a point where they will just crumble and fall apart if too hot.
Comfortably_Numb
The Evil Mike Brooks
You don't need to quench. But it doesn't hurt anything to do so.
Crow#21957
50 Cal.
Thankyou guys.
Has anyone tried to use brass/steel parts for a pattern and then sand cast with silver?
Crow#21957
50 Cal.
I wish I knew how
Comfortably_Numb
The Evil Mike Brooks
OK... so how did it work out?
Comfortably_Numb
The Evil Mike Brooks
Fine, just like pouring brass.
Norman Brooks
45 Cal.
Yes and had a hard time getting the clay to stay in place. Made from electrical motor starters contacts.
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I got some silver, probably enough for a project or two. Hmmmm.... time for some serious Googling. Last time I tried sand casting, it was aluminum and the sand was "glued" together with water. Who knew?! Shop teacher should have known, but didn't stop us.
Comfortably_Numb
The Evil Mike Brooks
There is no clay involved in the sand casting process. That's why they don't call it "clay casting". 
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Hi,
I assume your trigger guard is not silver but German silver. Treat it about the same as any other copper alloy, anneal by heating almost red hot and let air cool or quench in water. As for casting in silver something made in brass, I do that process a lot. Here is an original brass wrist plate duplicated in brass using Delft clay. It is the same process as sand casting but using clay rather than sand. The exact same process can be used to cast it in silver from the brass original.
Here is the casting process duplicating an original silver wrist plate.
Sand casting would be much more cost effective for large objects like trigger guards and butt plates but the Delft clay could be used as well.
dave
I assume your trigger guard is not silver but German silver. Treat it about the same as any other copper alloy, anneal by heating almost red hot and let air cool or quench in water. As for casting in silver something made in brass, I do that process a lot. Here is an original brass wrist plate duplicated in brass using Delft clay. It is the same process as sand casting but using clay rather than sand. The exact same process can be used to cast it in silver from the brass original.
Here is the casting process duplicating an original silver wrist plate.
Sand casting would be much more cost effective for large objects like trigger guards and butt plates but the Delft clay could be used as well.
dave
This is something I might have to investigate further... though I wonder if it wouldn't be simpler to electroplate the original brass part with silver. Parts like the thimbles would almost need to have a pattern made and while I know a bit about woodworking, a pattern for a thimble would be awfully difficult work. Maybe the trigger guard could be cast and the thimbles plated. They don't really get handled much, so the plating probably would not wear off for many years, even with occasional polishing.
Crow#21957
50 Cal.
You guys do work like carving and casting that I can only dream of doing.
Crow#21957
50 Cal.
So if I need to open the crescent so its not as curved. I need to heat it to a psle glow then let it air cool an maybe use a hammer to open the curve.???
