Bitcoin Forum

Ahoy all, it is finally time for the official announcement with all of the information that you may want. This post will be for general information, and my 2nd post in this thread will be for current loaves for sale.

I'm finally past the start, and into beginning production of these wallets (pictured below) each is hand cast and finished in .999 fine silver. Their weights are a bit variable (more on this later) but they are typically over 2.5 Oz of pure silver. I will be asking around 0.02BTC each, based on the results of the previous auction. This price may vary a bit with metal content and BTC:Fiat price, but I will have each price listed next to the bars in question. I accept BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, Garlic, Metals, Barter for goats/chickens, etc. Pretty much what I mean is, shoot me a PM if you'd like to trade with a Bitcoin equivalent, or if you'd like to offer me a trade. I'm pretty flexible, and will at the very least entertain any offers. I've had some hilariously interesting trades in the past, so please feel free.

Example Photos of the loaves:
https://imgur.com/a/OvFA6
https://imgur.com/a/JWMFn
https://imgur.com/a/wz91e

Holograms:
https://i.imgur.com/oKVxmBY.png

There are a million difficult to control factors that change the outcome of how each bar will turn out. For that reason, each loaf will be unique. Each will be created, photographed similarly to the imgur galleries above, and sold individually, so there is no question as to exactly what you will be receiving when you place your order. I will list them for sale as they become available in the post below this OP.

Shipping is included in the prices listed. If you are outside of the US, I can still ship to you, however I ask that you make yourself aware of any importation restrictions or taxes that will be imposed. I can't be held responsible for issues that occur in shipment after the packages have left the US, as the USPS stops receiving tracking updates after that point.

I plan on documenting each step these loaves go through for anyone interested, and will update here when I get a chance to get photos from start to finish.

If you have any questions, comments, hate and discontent, please feel free to let me know.


Auction for the first three loaves:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2887662.0

#4   0.02BTC  SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/AASzcQI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zaOMhof.jpg

#5   0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/68qLlWD.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/X0WvGnJ.png

#6   0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/kArcWr4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VkIQgtk.png

#7   0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/YIbiqva.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/00U9MKS.jpg

#8   0.018BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/xScbQiO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/lK34rhG.png

#9   0.018BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/q29X13j.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8aa19SK.png

#10   0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/xQlZAXh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dLyBtAz.png

#11   0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/Q0A7yOO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NwrQY3D.png

#12  0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/gBOhZM7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kPem7vx.png

#13   0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/V8XARaY.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/w1uGLzj.png

#14   0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/8gnnHV0.png
https://i.imgur.com/0d6AfQE.png

#15   0.02BTC
https://i.imgur.com/DXD2Iwx.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/c2pHOEV.png

#16   0.02BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/xUAJr5Y.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HxnQkGb.png

#17   0.021BTC SOLD
https://i.imgur.com/bMQzZOJ.png
https://i.imgur.com/vUtqWdZ.png

#18   0.019 BTC
https://i.imgur.com/YrfX6ba.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/oRoHSJp.png

#19   0.02BTC
https://i.imgur.com/hcARmqR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/20sp2ru.png

#20   0.02BTC
https://i.imgur.com/H2BFwc9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Df2BoIN.png

#21   0.019BTC
https://i.imgur.com/R6rZ69W.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MOCPPR5.png

I want to buy #7.

PMed

#5 please

PMed as well  ;)

Last 3 pls!

Any reason why the 4th last one is 0.018? if its a normal loaf ill take it as well!

PMed.

#8 and 9 are cheaper just because of their metal content. When finished, the loaves typically end up around 85-86 grams. For whatever reason, #8 and 9 ended up at 70-75 grams. I would have melted them back down, but I didn't notice until after they were completely finished. I figured I'd mark them down from the rest, and see if people are interested. If not, I'll just melt them back down, and they will become 7/8ths of a regular loaf next time around.

Will buy #8 please.

Are the loaves actually numbered or is it just a numbering system to match them to the respective photos?

They are not physically numbered, just the holograms are numbered. I figured as personal wallets, not coming prefunded or anything like that, they wouldn't have much of a number related collector's value. The numbering is really just to help me keep things straight, since people are picking which individual bar they want. As far as confirming the number and counterfeiting concerns, I dont really think there will be many considering how each bar is absolutely unique and just a couple of photos and a weight will confirm that.

In the future, if I get a press that can consistently number things without causing any flaws, I will do so. Though not for this series of physical wallets.

4,6,9.  Any two (order in preference). cant tell whats sold

PMed

#9 is the last available number

I will take it!

And with that, I'm now out of stock. I'll try to make more this weekend, weather willing.

I'll take one, if any still available.

Sorry, I'm currently all out. I should have some more available starting this weekend weather permitting. I'll shoot you a PM when I have more available.

Any plans to make Salty’s Silver Spittoons in the future?

http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/sitebuilder/images/Silver_Spittoon_1_-432x480.jpg

Its quite likely. I actually had a custom project request that I'm working on as well. Lots of fun things to make!

Contact me when you have one available!

Will do! I have every intention of having more made over the weekend.

I'd love to see a video of you pouring silver into the mold and then the removal process if you had such a thing.

I'll get one for you this weekend. I have pictures I can upload in a few minutes once I find them, but I can get a video. I had intended on getting pictures of the whole process for those that found it interesting. As you can see in the pics below, it was wet when pouring these. Thats highly frowned upon, a drop of water into a hot crucible of silver will shoot molten metal out like a volcano. The humidity also effects pour quality, so a cold dry day with low humidity and a hot summer day with high humidity will result in completely different bars even with the exact same mold. Not saying the bars didn't turn out well because it was wet, just mentioning that completely replicating a bar is next to impossible.

https://i.imgur.com/mYemy3e.png
https://i.imgur.com/NzqNTLr.png

I'll make sure to grab better pics this weekend.

Interesting.  I envisioned you pouring the silver into a bucket of sand with the mold in it, but from the pics it looks like you're using something smaller than a bucket to keep each pour in a separate small rounded space, like a tube?  (I'm a wizard with the words, I know)

Sand molds don't give very good detail. The end result is a really porous pitted and uneven casting. When airplane parts are cast in aluminum, they are made much larger than they will eventually be, because a team of technicians will remove half of the material to get it to what it needs to be.

I use investment powder, which is a high temperature plaster that jewelers use for making jewelry. The plaster is mixed, put under a vacuum to remove any air in the plaster mix, and then poured into molds (those are plastic solo cups that just so happen to be a suitable size). Once the plaster sets, I cut the cup off and you put the molds through a burnout cycle in a programmable oven that runs up to around 1400 degrees over ~8 hours to remove any water from the plaster and also to prevent thermal shock which would shatter the molds.

This video shows how it works pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4vSYcYwdNU

If you want to video the making of the Death Star that would be cool by me!

And thanks for sharing the process, very cool!

I absolutely will. I was actually just thinking about asking you if you wouldn't mind. The model is finished, and I'm going to make the plaster mold the same day I do the garlic bread loaves, so it should be cast this weekend.

Funny enough, when I first printed the model for it, I messed up the dimensions, so I have yours, and then a model that is 4x larger. It'd be just under a kilogram of silver. I might make it at some point for grins.

A kilogram death star is awfully tempting, but then I would need a kilogram millennium falcon...!

1) I hate flash
2) The big one isn't finished or assembled

The smaller one is about ping pong ball sized, the larger one is a little smaller than a baseball

https://i.imgur.com/BLcXGP8.png   - embedded below, but sometimes images don't like to load for me

https://i.imgur.com/BLcXGP8.png

Awesome!

Very nice!!

I didn’t mean literal sand, but my ignorance is showing.  Plastic cups was the piece of the puzzle I was missing.  I’m a bit surprised that size is large enough to shield against heat transfer, but again, I have no experience with silver and very little experience with aluminum in this area.  Would still love to see a video of the pour, mostly for my own educational purposes, but also because melted silver is sexy.  

Reminds me...  Wasn’t there someone who made their own silver bars by melting silver in a wooden mold using a microwave back in 2012?  These alternate DIY minting methods are cool.

Well you can use literal sand, I have about 100 lbs of sand that I sifted through a very find micron mesh, mixed with equally fine bentonite clay, called greensand that you can use for sand casting. I also have some oilsands called Petrobond that I'm going to try casting into as well. With it, I'm going to cast a pan out of copper, and then plate it very heavily with silver.

The plastic cup is just something to pour the plaster into. With the bread loaves, I have about a half inch of clearance on each side. The molds are typically one use only, so even if they crack, its not until after the loaf has been poured and started to cool enough that it wont lose its shape. I've got lucky and got two pours out of a single mold, but most of the time, the silver burns some of the detail away, so I dont cast a second time. I will certainly get a good video for you this upcoming weekend  ;)

Here is a little better of an example of mold making https://i.imgur.com/LsfiCOn.png

The stainless steel ring fits into the bottom rubber portion. The plaster will be poured in, and left to set. After that, when it dries, it goes in the oven, and the PLA will melt out, leaving a little tunnel to the cavity in the plaster. Silver is poured in, and then the sprue is cut off and the piece is sanded, polished, etc. Same deal as that youtube link I posted previously.

https://i.imgur.com/LsfiCOn.png

Also, I've done the microwave method before. Its obscenely dangerous. I disabled all of my microwave's safety features, increased the frequency of the "microwaves" by overclocking it, and it made the waves small enough to get outside of the microwave through the venting slits. Took me a minute to figure out why my face was getting itchy.

Of course, the weather took a turn for the worse, so I'll have to hold off until tomorrow to cast. I got two bread loaves done, but they aren't cleaned up yet. I used a new casting technique, and they turned out quite a bit different, but I'm liking it. Will upload pictures when done.

This is also unfinished, so it looks really rough at the moment, but.
https://i.imgur.com/kkviDti.png

https://i.imgur.com/kkviDti.png

Nah this is still cool as shit.  Anything Star Wars and you've got my attention.  Look forward to the finished product though!

Great job, I am very much looking forward to having the finished piece on my desk.

Here is how we ended up at finishing, weighing in at 249.1 grams.

https://imgur.com/mzki3hD

9 additional garlic bread loaves are now in stock.

Here is the video of the pour: https://vimeo.com/256492427

I'm changing a few things up, including the mold material. I have a much lower success rate, with about 50% of loaves needing to be scrapped and repoured, and a bit of weight inconsistency, but the loaves that do come out right, really come out right. The texture on them is incredibly gratifying. Hopefully I'll have better luck with them in the future, but its worth not having to let the molds sit and cure overnight.

Is this for sale?

Very cool Salty.  I was hoping to see some flames and wasn't disappointed.  Thanks for doing this.  I believe you're the only person doing this here, so it's nice to have you share the visuals.

I will take #13, PM me! :D

#17

PMing re details.

Shipped


and will ship tomorrow!


From the feedback I've been getting from people, like I thought, they are pretty happy with the texture. Had a person PM me saying that they doubt they'll load theirs, and they just carried it around in their pocket over the weekend. I stopped trying to avoid the little flaws, rather I just finish them up so that the flaws are textually appealing.

It is possible to store garlic coins and how?

There are multiple ways to make a garlic paper wallet. Either through your wallet client, or you can use a tool like https://walletgenerator.net/?currency=Garlicoin

Daily Bump

Just got mine, very cool!

https://i.imgur.com/WVhyEYT.jpg

Thanks for the great product SaltySpitoon! The picture doesn't do it justice, you gotta really hold it in your hand to feel the garlicness  :D

Glad you like them!

I've got 6 loaves left, I think I'll hold onto them (literally) if everyone that wanted one now has one. It'd really be a shame to melt these back down.

Onto my next project!

glad to hear it! I'm not sure I'd recommend taking a bite out of them (assuming you haven't already) but I hope you enjoy in your own way.

Do you have a investment vibrator to get bubbles out of the mold? You can get one cheap and also find good deals on centrifugal casting machines on ebay.

I have a vacuum casting table to get bubbles out of molds and to suck metal into all of the little crevices of a mold when casting.

*Edit*

Here is the process I used when making another piece that shows the table.

https://imgur.com/a/3RQkR

#17 arrived safe and sound at my Nordic nuclear-proof cold storage site. Thank you!

Glad to hear it, thanks again.

A new kiln is in the works, as well as a few others things. Last few weekends have just been gear maintenance and such, so not much new. But I will start work on the statues when I'm done with the kiln, and from there, you'll have to see.

Bump

I really should have a thread just for those who want to follow my overall project development. I'm in the process of building a water splitter + hydrogen torch, so those pesky platinum group metals won't be out of reach anymore. The Kiln is also in progress, though with St Patrick's Day weekend coming up, I'm afraid I'll be in no condition to deal with pyrometer temperatures. I'm also in the process of procuring some flat stock and wire milling equipment, because wearable private keys are also on my todo list. 4 Fingered Charlie may not be the only one with their private key on their ring much longer.

I have kind of always wanted to turn a 25 BTC Cas coin into a necklace, but I'll probably do something of my own design instead.

In short, In Progress:

Larger kiln for larger or more casts
Hydrogen torch for working with platinum group metals
Wearable Private keys

Daily Bump

Interesting. Keep up the good work! Watching...

Not the best photograph, and for that I apologize, but if you want a silver loaf of tasty garlic bread or any custom item made beautifully in precious metals, do not hesitate to contact SaltySpitoon.  I am incredibly pleased with both my pieces.

https://s10.postimg.org/5schhfw95/DSC03190.jpg

Glad you are happy with them  :)

I've been a little inactive on the production side for these last few weeks because I've been undergoing some major equipment setup to improve and expand what I can make. I got my rolling mill today, so I can produce metal wire or sheet stock. Wearable engraved private keys has been something I've wanted to do for a while. A gold chain with each link having 1 character of a private key would be really cool.

I've got a new torch setup arriving on Friday that will allow me to do more intricate work, and with every metal in existence. Tungsten and its melting point of 6200 degrees? Blah! Thats nothing! I've got a few bits together for my larger kiln, so I can produce more cast pieces like the death star. Just need some sensors and to do some minor home electrical work to support a ~ 8,000 Watt kiln. I've got a lot more design work to do with the Bitcoin Blockchain statues. Since I'm going to have to ruin each printed piece anyway, I may as well make them obscenely detailed. Maybe I'll look into silicone molding and wax injection, so I don't need to print the same thing 20 times.

I'll be moving out of just silver pretty soon as well. I've been playing around with more exotic metals, and with any luck will be producing a line of physical wallets or perhaps traditionally funded coins in the relatively short term. I can't say anything about the design yet, but I intend to have a video of a timelapsed 6 hour stay in a firepit that can nearly melt steel as my product test to make sure my coins can withstand a house fire anyway.

Just curious Salty, you ever done any work with ruthenium?  Love ruthenium and have a decent collection of ruthenium coated coins..just wish I had a pure one.

I have not yet, I know it is used in platinum alloys, but I don't know much about it in pure form. It is an exotic I'd like to try working with, assuming there is nothing strange about it. For example, I can't cast titanium, because it catches fire when exposed to oxygen. Not sure where I'd source it, but I can look into it.

*edit* Looks like its doable, I'd just need a new hardcore respirator because some of the oxides are a little lethal, and its not too hard to source. At the current spot price of ~$205/oz, it still holds a bit of a hefty premium from what I've seen because its an exotic, but not nearly as bad as some other oddball metals I've tried to find at reasonable prices.

I've got a Soviet gas mask you can borrow not too worry!  :D  I would love to see a pure ruthenium coin made. Looking forward to all your work going forward, enjoy watching all this stuff come to life!

Not sure how I'm going to load it, but look forward to doing so!
https://i.imgur.com/RNYLwXE.jpg

Here is one of SaltySpitoon's loaves melting in a tray of buttery goodness:

https://s14.postimg.org/sx555wwup/DSC03267.jpg

I'm glad it arrived! I was just thinking that it'd be difficult to return your silver bar if there were complications with the postal service. (picture of part of your bar below)

https://i.imgur.com/lX1FEsK.png

Haha glad we had no complications  :D  That looks great!

Damn, what you have SS making ChiBitcity?  That looks cool!

Ah, its just a chain I was playing around with. I traded a garlic loaf to ChiBit's for a silver bar, so I melted it, alloyed it, made an ingot, milled it into wire, and then wound and cut the wire into loops. Now its a chain/bracelet. Not really my forte, but I figured since I have a rolling mill, I might as well give it a shot.

Its ~97% silver, 1.5% Germanium, and 1.5% Copper, a custom uncommon silver alloy. I haven't polished it yet, but its way whiter than white gold, and has a nice deep platinum luster. In addition, it should be ~7-10x more tarnish resistant than sterling silver. Its classified as Argentium silver I'd guess, but thats typically 93.5% silver ~1% germanium, and 6.5% copper. When exposed to air, germanium oxides form on the surface creating a tarnish resistant layer, similar to how aluminum oxidizes.

Here are a few pictures as the wire got made:

https://i.imgur.com/qfdujNF.png
https://i.imgur.com/fJbNwNy.png
https://i.imgur.com/pUTeAw6.png

And a ring I threw together, again I didn't have the right tools so its no where near done right. It hasn't been polished, filed, or formed properly, so its pretty ugly, but. The one in the middle is the silver, the one above it is platinum, and the diamond ring below it is white gold. I did order the right tools (I think) so we'll see if I can't make something pretty in the future.

https://i.imgur.com/TfdTLmG.png
https://i.imgur.com/iBGwbe7.png

That is some really cool stuff you are working on!  I really dig that you are making custom alloys.  Thanks for sharing.

I would like to reserve the shiny, stinky, bread with number #20 :D

is #19 still free?

Sure, can do.


And yes it is.

It seems like the garlic craze is laying down a bit, maybe its the amount of difficulty in buying Garlic in the first place  :'(

I'm going to call it an end to the production of garlic loaves, and call it a set of 21 total produced. I'll be focusing on my next production now, stay tuned!