On Sunday, August 16, 2015 at 11:05:10 PM UTC-7, Tom Gardner wrote:
On 8/16/2015 1:30 AM, Gunner Asch wrote:

I should mention that Ive turned rough pure silver rods into bullets
on CNC lathes.

They dont cast well

I turn some also, they cut as nice as AL. They cast fine ... if you
have the stuff.

Pure silver cannot be melted in an oxygen atmosphere, or it
cracks (due to dissolved gas release) on solidification. That's why
sterling silver contains copper- the alloy is better behaved.

Interestingly, some high-performance bearings, instead of Babbitt metal,
have been made of silver. It may be hard, but it's apparently nice and slippery.