Q. for jewelers: eco-friendly silver casters?

[firebirdgold]

Does anyone know of a casting company that is environmentally friendly and uses recycled silver and gold? I''ve got a friend who''s a hobby-level silver smith/artist who wants to transition into wax carving from fabrication and wants his jewelry to be as eco-friendly as possible. He has a local casting company he uses now that grumbles over his small scale requests (about 6-10 items at a time) and is in no way Green.

Does anyone know of a good company for this? Or alternatively he''d be willing to learn small scale casting himself if he knew of a good place to buy recycled silver and gold from an ecologically certified refinery.
Thanks

 

[strmrdr]

casting and eco-friendly don't go together.
It uses a ton of energy and releases a lot of heat and fumes.
As far as iv been able to find out refining is done in large lots and I know of no one that separates out recycled production.
The chemicals used in refining are often very nast stuff.
There are several companies around that will happily cast small lots and one of production.
What part of the country is he in?

 

[strmrdr]

some info on the process and the nasty stuff used:
http://www.silversmithing.com/1silverprocessing.htm

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 6/26/2007 6:39:49 PM
Author: strmrdr
casting and eco-friendly don''t go together.
It uses a ton of energy and releases a lot of heat and fumes.
As far as iv been able to find out refining is done in large lots and I know of no one that separates out recycled production.
The chemicals used in refining are often very nast stuff.
There are several companies around that will happily cast small lots and one of production.
What part of the country is he in?

I heard that too. I try to stay eco friendly, but I heard the chemicals being released to do that are not worth the benefit.

I always love seeing old pieces of silverware turned into jewelry. In Madrid, NM there is a cute shop I bought a fork braclet which had pearls.

 

[firebirdgold]

He''s in Redding in northern CA., if that helps.

I didn''t realize that it was a totally inherent eco mess. What about all the ''no dirty gold'' pledges and places like GreenKarat.com that tout how most of their metal comes from recycled metals from eco-certified and environmentally conscious refineries?