Has anyone turned silver and wood

[John Beaver]

Hi

I am considering a project that would have thin layers of silver 2mm - instead of wood veneer.

Has anyone ever turned silver before? Can it be done on a wood lathe?

Thanks

[Steve Vaughan]

WOW. With the expense of silver, I'm not sure I'd want to turn any of that. But, as pliable as it might be at 2mm, maybe it would make more sense to glue it on and rub/buff it? That seems to me like it would work.

[Bruce Pratt]

You could probably use 12g sheet of dead soft silver, however, at $15/sq. in., be prepared to burn your shavings to recover the waste silver. You might consider some other soft "white" metals, maybe aluminum, german silver (nickel/copper zinc alloy), tin, or pewter. Alternatively, if you don't want to turn metal, you could do pinstriping with silver gilt cream.

[Jim Burr]

I do Aluminium and copper, 18g-22g, all the time if that helps.

[Scott Conners]

Funny you should post! I'm currently in the process of turning my wedding bands out of wood and silver lamination. I'm using .6mm (22ga I think) and 1.25mm (solder laminated .6mm/22ga sheet). I expect the silver to turn like a nice hard wood (ebony or ironwood) from my experiences with brass and copper.

Blanks are curing, turning starts next week, I'll keep you posted!

[Alan Trout]

Fine silver is softer than sterling as sterling is alloyed with copper. Also fine silver does not tarnish like sterling unless that is a patina that you are looking for. It should turn pretty easy with a nice sharp tool. I have turned some on a small metal lathe before and it cut very easy.

Alan

[Eric Holmquist]

I have not tried turning silver, but Jimmy Clews did a demo at our club where he inserted bits of silver wire into a turning then turned that face. The silver wire turned easily.

[John Beaver]

Thanks for all the sage advice.

Scott: I can't wait to see your finished pics.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

John, I don't have lots of experience at this, but I have laminated thin silver and ebony. I used E-6000 adhesive available at riogrande.com and it seemed to work well. As for turning - not a problem.

[Jeffrey J Smith]

I saw a demo by John Wessels from South Africa at the Utah Symposium - John uses both cast rings of Pewter and sheet pewter on his turnings. The cast pewter appears to turn very easily, and the combination- usually as an applied rim is really appealing. He'll be demoing his techniques at San Jose next month.

[Dick Strauss]

I wouldn't recommend pewter (the alloys often contain lead) unless you can be sure what is in it. Sanding lead based pewter may put lead dust in the air.

[John Beaver]

John, I don't have lots of experience at this, but I have laminated thin silver and ebony. I used E-6000 adhesive available at riogrande.com and it seemed to work well. As for turning - not a problem.

Thanks Malcolm. That's exactly what I will be doing with the Ebony and silver. Looks like it will work.