For the bladesmith that has everything... sterling & 14k anvil money clip

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<font face=arial color=darkgreen size=4><b>For the bladesmith that has everything... Here's a shot of my new money clip in sterling silver and (the anvil) 14 karat gold....it's a copy of my "Peter Wright" here in the shop I use for silversmithing.<br><p> regards, mitch<p><img src=http://www.main.com/~wilkins/knife/forums/anvil01.jpg><p><img src=http://www.main.com/~wilkins/knife/forums/anvil02.jpg>
 
Very nice Mitch! Sure looks like a knife makers money clip......no money in it :eek: . Seriously, good job, very clean.

Take care,
Tom
 
Greetings Richard. Yes I cut the original wax, made the mold and the casting all in my shop. You my friend have a very nice web site! I love your file work bracelets and your (signature?) Dragon carved head. Have you ever thoughtof doing a casting of that design? Have you ever tried your hand at carving wax? I think you would be good at it. I love styleized animal subjects. Do a carving of that dragon and I'll cast it for you in silver, say something about the size of a quarter or just a little bit bigger?

regards, mitch
 
Mitch, You really are a jeweler. I like that alot. I bet it costs quite abit because of the hand work and the gold anvil. Soooo, How Much?
 
That is just to Cool....I will also have to ask,HOW MUCH,And do you do a Nickel Silver and Brass model for us poor Knife makers;)
Bruce
 
Mitch- judging from the replies so far, you have a winner with this design! Could you do these in a silver/bronze combination for the knifemaker that can't afford gold? And thanks for the kind words and offer of the casting. I used to do a lot of lost wax casting in silver and bronze, and I think this technique has a lot of potential for knifemakers- bolsters, guards, buttcaps, etc. You will be getting mail about your offer!!:D
 
<font face=arial color=indigo size=4><b>Greetings to all. The "little anvil" weighs in at 5.21 grams in 14k. Wholesale for small orders of such items as this is about 10.75 per gram @ 267.00 gold so the little anvil alone, finished out, is about $56.00.<p> Now I sell the money clip here in my store for $150.00. Any of you fellows who want one can have it for $95.00. The piece in all sterling however would be very nice as well; I'll cast up a few "anvils" next week in silver. As for Bronze, well, I suppose that would be a nice contrast and I may try that also. when oxidized in and around the anvil with "liver of sulpher" the all silver design would really stand out, in fact, my gold one has some oxidation in each of the "curves" and you can just see it in the pictures.<br>Since engraveing is part of knife embelishment, I thought I'd throw in this pic of an 18 karat heavy dome ring I carved recently and finished off with an acid reduction finish, a rather popular process in 18th century europe. This sort of carving can be done on pommels, ferrules and guards to be cast in brass or nickle silver.<p> Bruce Evans, I can't cast nickle silver alloy. God knows I've tried and I still intend to give it another go sometime soon however it has such a high temp range it's damned awful stuff to get to behave itself; always full of porosity and gas bubbles and boy does it smoke!<p>
regards, mitch<p>
<img src=http://www.main.com/~wilkins/knife/forums/dome01.jpg>
 
i did a little silversmithing in my teens so i have a idea what it takes. theres is no stopping you!
 
Wow, Mitch, that ring is stunning! Beautifully detailed carving. Have you ever done any knife components like this? I've never heard of an acid reduction finish, can you tell us about the process? Keep up the great work, keep posting the pic's, and thanks for sharing these!:)
 
<font face=arial black color=darkgreen size=4><b>An acid resist finish is really quite simple. It was used a lot in victorian England to make low karat (8 & 9 karat gold)look like high karat gold and indeed it does. You simply heat up a gold object to full oxidation; that is, to fully oxidize the copper and silver in the exterior surface of the alloy. It will look solid black. Then immerse the object in a warm mixture of three parts water to one part nitric acid to blow off the oxidation. Repeat three or 4 times (less on higher carats) and you are actually looking at nearly a 24 karat gold finish, hence the bright yellow gold down in the voids of my carving. I then simply polished off the "tops" of the pattern to a natural 18 karat gold high polished finish and that's how it's done.

<p> <center> regards, mitch
 
Mitch that's fantasic, your anvil just blows me away! Can you use just a few words to describe the infrastructure required to do lost wax casting?

Dave
 
<font face=arial black color=darkgreen size=4><b>Hey Dave. The infrastructure is pretty heavy. I've been doing this for 27 years so I've got the works. However a person can carve his or her's waxes and have them cast by one of the many professional casting houses around, I use for instance, Atlantic in NY for all my platinum work because I don't cast the stuff often enough and it requires yet another investment in different equiptment!<p> Mostly you need a combination casting / vacuum machine, a torch; I use a big cutting torch for my melting, lots of polishing equiptment, plaster investment, and wax working tools: some of my favorites are a hoof rasp, pocket knife and a zillion different 6 inch files.... most of mine are hand mades.

<center>regards, mitch
 
Thanks Mitch,I thought that you just formed the clip and then attached the anvil.....I need to learn how to carve the wax myself as there are some Bowies that I would like to do that have casted guards and pommels.
You could make a casting of the shell but cap for the Bowies and I bet you could sell them to other makers that want to make some of the traditional Bowies.
What kind of prices would you charge if someone was to send you a pattern or the wax already carved to have casted ?
Bruce
 
Mitch- you may have started something with this thread! I'll bet a lot of these makers could make wax models and have you do the casting... if you have the spare time. And these folks should know that to come up with that beautifully finished anvil, free of pits and blemishes, requires time, expensive equipment, and some serious talent!! Great work, Mitch.:)
 
Mitch,Here is a picture of the knife with the shell pommel on it that I was inquiring about.Also could you cast the frogs in a solid piece to use on the sheaths ?

Oct08_06unmarkedbowiewsheath.jpg


I know I ask allot of questions,But I have been wanting to find someone to do this or help coach me to learn how so I can reproduce some of the really cool guards and pommels from the older style knives.
Bruce
 
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