/// RECYCLING - WHAT IT MEANS ///
As a silversmith and jeweller working exclusively in recycled precious metals, and who recycles their own, I take for granted what this actually means. I am often asked so I thought I would write a journal to explain as there are a few processes and methods.
Firstly, when I buy bullion (precious metal), I buy recycled bullion. All of the main UK bullion dealers now sell solely recycled gold, silver and other precious metals so its very easy to make sure that is what I use. I often get asked where it all comes from. Partly from the methods I will explain below, and partly from all the items people are buying to scrap - all of those intricate antique tea sets, unloved cutlery, unused old dented tankards, broken or outdated jewellery you name it. It all goes into one big melting pot. So when you buy and use recycled metals from a bullion dealer, who knows what history is contained within the material you receive.
Secondly, when we are working with precious metals we create waste. This comes in various forms and every single bit of it is recycled.
When we saw or file the metal it creates dust. This is captured in the material hanging under the peg on our bench, the bench skin, and is called lemel. We keep all of this lemel and you’d be surprised how quickly it builds up.
When we are making items we sometimes get little odds and ends of the metal which is too small/the wring shape or size to use for anything else. That is called scrap and we gather it up into a pot so it can all be melted down into wire or sheet.
Whenever we use wet and dry (a form of sand paper we use for making edges and surfaces extra smooth) once it has been used so much it is no longer functional, that goes into a bag. When our polishing mops are finished with they go into the bag too. We are careful when we clean and hoover our studio, we empty the hoover into that bag, and use wipes for surfaces which, you guessed it, go into the bag also. In fact, almost everything in the studio, once its finished with, goes into the bag. Why? Because magicians like Presman Mastermelt can extract the teeny tiny particles of precious metal trapped in these items.
I send my lemel, and my sweeps (everything mentioned in the paragraph above) to Presman when they have built up. In fact I don’t even have to send them, Connor comes to collect them from my studio. Bags everything up, weighs it, and takes it away. A few days later I’ll get an email saying how much has been extracted and what the price of that is, minus their processing charges. You can take this in cash, or you can buy recycled bullion from them. It’s an endless cycle.
I tend to keep the scraps myself, and whenever I make something using the casting process (pouring molten metal into a cast to create a 3D object) I’ll use my scraps. Sometimes I’ll need a certain thickness of silver wire, so I will melt down some scraps, pour it into an ingot then use my little rolling mill to get it down to the desired thickness. These are both incredibly satisfying things to do.
So when we speak about using recycled materials, this is what we mean. We really do recycle everything, every single speck of dust! If you have any questions, please just ask because I am always happy to talk about all things silver!
