Sterling Or Fine Silver Tubing

Q: I am looking for about 1 foot of 2 - 2.5" OD sterling or fine silver tubing. Wall thickness should be > .030 but it's not that important. Anyone know where I can get such a thing?

A:Try Hauser and Miller, or possibly Metalliferous in NYC, but I don't recall if they stock it that big. If not, they might know where to get it. Any of the big refiners / suppliers can fabricate it or custom-draw it for you, but they might need an order bigger than 1 foot. A metalsmith or jeweler with a deep-draw hydraulic press could make a piece for you, but it would be pricey. What's this for? Maybe I can suggest an alternative to bought tubing. Does it need to be seamless? If not, it's an easier problem. BTW, please copy your reply via email, as I will be away from the ng for the next ten days or so, but will still be checking mail. I was going to turn and mill some napkin holder rings for my wife. I could roll, solder and grind a sheet but I was hoping to avoid that. I already have to turn the pieces and then mill the engraving with a rotary table. Napkin rings are fabricated from sheet. Cut to length and width, decorated, formed around a mandrel, soldered. Your method will result in some godawfully expensive rings. I suppose you're right. With a cnc lathe and mill I felt the cheapest way was to find tubing in the approximate size then turn and mill the final product. If I where to make these pieces in anything other than "precious metal" this would be the case. A 2" OD with a .040 wall 1 foot long would be 16.44 toz. or about $224 giving about $9/toz as fabrication cost for the tubing. (.250" - 1.00" tubing IS sold for about $9/toz fab cost.) Sheet is about $2.50/toz fab cost. So I would be spending about $104 instead of having to fabricate my own tubing. If it takes me longer than 3 hours to fabricate my own tubing I would be losing money.

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