When I searched for different Silver topics with the in site search engine, I couldn't find any that really fitting what I was looking for.
So I wanted to make a thread to get some questions answered.
What is the average price of Silver in USD? ( $20-25 an oz right? )
What is the average price of Silver in BTC?
Is there a good website to discuss Silver like there is Bitcoin?
What is the best website to buy bulk silver on?
Are their websites that sell bulk silver for Bitcoin?
What is the best material to use when making a Silver cast? (rings, figurines, etc)
Are there trustworthy people on Bitcointalk selling Silver?
What are the best tools to use to begin making your own silver art?
What do you need to flatten silver?
What do you need to etch images into silver?
What do you need to stamp images into silver?
What do you need to bend silver?
Why does everyone hate on silver shot/grain? Is it not pure?
1) The average price of silver changes daily. In the last few months, it has been anywhere from $20 - $35 per oz aproximately
2) The average price of silver in BTC would be something you would have to calculate using the silver price, and the Average BTC price
3) There are plenty of precious metal forums, if you google it, you will find many many names. For your purposes though, I would try and avoid the numismatic ones, as they deal in rare old silver coins and such.
4) If you need a very large amount, I'd check APMEX, they are one of the biggest names in silver, and they offer a grabbag sort of deal for $.70 over spot per ounce, for random pieces of silver. However they are guarenteed to be .999 and of the weight you purchase.
5) I'm not sure about Bulk silver, for BTC, but Amagi is pretty reputable.
6) When making things out of silver, use sterling silver .925 Silver. .999 Silver is too soft and if if you make things out of it, it will get dented and dinged all to hell.
7) Everyone on BTCTalk is trustworthy if you use escrow and test your silver to make sure its not fake
8. Some of the basics, you will need a metal melting crucible. I'd advise a electric one that you can melt up to .5-1KG in for like $500, or you can get hard core and make a ceramic one. You will also need an anvil, planching hammer, proper waxes for modeling, and various other tools that I don't entirely remember off of the top of my head.
9) It really depends on how much silver you are talking about for flatening, stamping, and etching. Silver is a soft metal, however like for 1Oz coins, rounds, and bars like you see for sale by various companies, you will need at least a 10 ton hydraulic press. You can get away with just using muscle if you are doing much smaller stuff, like 1 gram coins.
10) You should be able to bend the silver with a hammer (proper type) and an anvil
11) People hate on Silver shot/grain because once the bag is opened, theres no guarentee of purity. The pieces tend to be too small to accurately test, so it could very easily be counterfeit.