Sources for Sterling Silver

[Bill-52]

Any recommendations for sources for sterling silver?  Looking for ~4" x 2".  A search online has most vendors advertising 6" x 1", which won't work for my needs.

This is for various inlays on a longrifle.  Any recommendations for sheet thickness?

Many thanks for any thoughts / suggestions.

Bill

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I buy my sheet silver from a local jeweller who coincidentally was a student of mine in high school back in the last century.  Be prepared for the price shock.  I buy .999 pure silver and the first sheet I bought was 6" x 12" x 1/16" thick and was $600 a long long time ago.  I went back to buy another one a couple years ago and was able to get a 6" x 12" x 1/32" thick sheet for the same money...ie:  half the sliver for $600.  One learns quickly how not to waste any of it.
I was concerned that 1/32" thick stock would be too thin, but it is not.  In fact. 1/16" is overkill.  If you want thicker stock, soft solder a piece of brass to the underside of the silver, and don't be heavy handed when dressing it down to the wood.

This is 1/16" pure silver..sorry, they're in backward order!

[LRB]

Hauser & Miller, Inc. They will cut silver sheet to the sizes you need. Many thicknesses and sizes. Very good to deal with. They also buy silver scrap.

[tallbear]

Hauser & Miller, Inc. They will cut silver sheet to the sizes you need. Many thicknesses and sizes. Very good to deal with. They also buy silver scrap.
Modify message

Wick unfortunately Hauser & Miller has closed.

I buy all my silver from Rio Grande...... https://www.riogrande.com/


Mitch

[LRB]

@!*%, that is unfortunate. They were great for the projects I did.

[tallbear]

I agree their willingness to cut custom sizes without a ridiculously high fabrication charge was unusual for a suppler.Rio has standard sizes but buying little extra is still lower than the fabrication charge that my other suppliers charge and i get the extra silver rather than lose it to labor....of course I'm now buying many thousands of dollars in silver each year so it doesn't matter as much

Mitch

[RAT]

Rio Grande jewelry supply will cut to whatever size you need. I believe they sell by weight at whatever silver is selling for that day.

[44-henry]

A silver dollar and a rolling mill would probably be all you would need. Should be someone near you with one, I have one in my lab that doesn't get used a whole lot but is handy when needed.

[Bill-52]

Thanks guys.  Much appreciated.   Bill

[borderdogs]

I use to buy a 12" by 24" by .080" thick to machine sheepdog whistles out of. It use to cost around $60 then crept up to $75 I just got a quote for the same sheet a couple of weeks ago and it was $455. Thats the end of me machining whistles. I can't imagine what sheet silver would cost now.
Rob

[rickw]

As of 11/19/22, the spot price of silver (pure silver) was $21.06 per ounce.
Rio Grande is a good source of silver (and jewelry tools and supplies), but I use Thunderbird Supply Company also.They will cut to size, and have sheets up to 6" X 36".
Thunderbird lists 18 gauge (.040 thick, a little over 1/32 thick) sterling silver sheet cut to size at $36.02 per inch by 6" long. The price will fluctuate, depending of the daily spot price of silver.
Hope this helps.
Rick

[okawbow]

Has anyone pounded out silver sheet from .999 silver bars? I have a few bars and would like to build a rifle with several silver inlays. I would think the silver would need to be annealed frequently.

[44-henry]

There was a recent thread on this topic. Yes it can be done, but it is easier on a small rolling mill. The silver needs to be annealed frequently. I have a student who is making some sheet this way now for one of his classes using the mill in our lab. The mills are not cheap, but they are handy.

Has anyone pounded out silver sheet from .999 silver bars? I have a few bars and would like to build a rifle with several silver inlays. I would think the silver would need to be annealed frequently.

[Bob Roller]

@!*%, that is unfortunate. They were great for the projects I did.

Proves that ANY place that was worth worth seeking out may soon be gone..I bought 1018 steel bars from a local machine
shops steel racks and it was always neat and easy to find the sizes needed.The man in charge of it passed away and it looks
like a salvage yard now in a dark room. RIP,Lester Lauderman.
Bob Roller

[45-110]

Been years since I saw the movie "The Silver Smith of Williamsburg, I seem to recall that they hammered out sheet silver from cast ingots. All their tools where polished.

[okawbow]

I’ll give it a try. Wouldn’t need to be perfectly flat and smooth. Will file the surface after inlaying anyway.