[TheForge] Silver question

[Andrew Vida]

"Casting" is probably the ignorantly used term of the priest who does 
not understand the processes that would be employed in the required work.

Another question would be that of cost.  Such a job would likely run at 
least a pair of thousands of dollars.  Casting ingots is not that large 
a deal, but rolling them out into new sheet is very time consuming with 
annealing and pickling stages after about every second or third pass 
through the mill.  Raising silver is not quite like doing the same in 
iron.  Silver is a wonderful metal but is a PITA in terms of work 
hardening.  It stiffens up comparatively rapidly and so must be annealed 
and pickled often.  That equals more time and more $$.  The finishing of 
the vessel is also a painstaking process if it is to be done correctly.  
It is a complete art in itself and I can tell you from first-hand 
experience that properly finishing large and plain surfaces is NOTHING 
like doing so with smaller ones of baroque character.  Sweeping silver 
surfaces show every flaw, often glaringly.  Eliminating such 
undesireable features necessitates the smith really knows what he is 
doing.  More $$.

An example of cost:  Bernie Bernstein (taught me silver-smithing) had a 
menorah at an exhibit in lower Manhattan.  It was inordinately simple 
with sweeping lines.  To the untrained eye it was simple and perhaps 
even "so what?" inspiring.  It was by far the most costly piece at 
$36K.  On close scrutiny the reason became clear.  Every flat surface 
was dead-flat, yet polished as mirrors.  The almost gothic arches under 
the candle cups appeared as single pieces and indeed the entire work 
looked as if it had been CNC machined from a single block of material.  
That is how adept he is at his craft and few others on the planet could 
match this level of perfection in every detail and surface.  I was 
irrevocably impressed by what I saw, which was not just much skill, but 
time and we all know what costs these days.


On 7/1/14, 3:13 AM, Rich Ellis wrote:
> You would really want to take it to a silversmith.  They would probably not
> cast it into a chalice, but raise it - at least the 'cup' section - the rest
> of it as well depending on the design.
>
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