I suppose when I get really, really good at this it won't happen quite as often, but I wind up with lots of wire ends that are too small to actually make something out of, but too big for me to feel comfortable throwing away, say 1/4" to 1/2". Not to mention the occasional oops piece.  Is there someplace I could send my precious metal wire scraps where they could be melted down and re-used? 

 I know Rio grande buys silver back, Monsterslayer may buy it as well. 

 Monsterslayer is a good place to do this.

 The short answer is yes.  Do not throw anything away.

The longer answer is to keep it.  When you get enough, you can melt it and do a pour for primitive casting.  I am hoping to do some broom casting.  

You can also do cuttle bone casting.

 I comulsively save even my copper.  Its just a habbit, and I may want it some day.

I have been saving bits and pieces since I started doing jewelry. I even save the sawdust. After I have a fair amount of the scraps saved I sell it or as suggested I use it for casting. I never throw it away, it is still good stuff!

Thanks everyone!  Nice to know I'm not just being compulsively nuts!  Is any piece too small to bother with?  Can I do casting without buying more hard-core melting equipment than a butane torch? Er, I suppose I should ask that on another forum area, come to think of it.

 Here is a link to a totally do it yourself casting project.

 http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-furnace-creating-molds-and-casting-je/

Some of my jewelry projects take years to do.  I slowly accumulate the various pieces.  This is a project that I am sort of inching forward towards.  I am not quite as hard core as the guy in the link, but you do not always need the latest and greatest to do things.  I know of one highschool student who carved an indentation into a firebrick to make his crucible.

Like I said I save saw dust. That is small stuff and over time it adds up to a lot of material. When I am sawing, filing, drilling or any other activity that produces fines I collect them and save them in a pill bottle. When it it full I melt it and make casting grain. Save everything, it gets you used to working with gold if you ever move in that direction.

In a beginning metalwork and soldering class, I inadvertantly melted a small sterling jumpring and wound up with a ball, which I then soldered onto my piece as part of the design.  I was using a butane torch.  I assume you can do the same with small pieces of wire.

Hi,

Of course you must save all your scraps and dust.  If you're working with sheets - the offcuts make valuable pieces to create new jewellery.

The small bits of wire, sheets and dust - I melt down in a crucible and then run the molten blob through a mill to create a new sheet.  I've saved a lot of silver this way.

Just be careful not to mix other metals with the silver (copper, goldfill or anything else you're using. Sterling silver can be mixed with dead-soft silver).

Hope this helps.

Hanna

OMG for a moment there I thought I read "too big to throw away" If you can see it it's too big to throw away!!. for a very small outlay you can pick up a crucible to melt down small amounts on your work bench and pour it into a mould, moulds can be made from all sorts of things as well as the traditional lost wax or cuttlefish casting, wood can make interesting patterns if you scorch and wire wool the grain up on it before forming a mould with it, have the vent going because the wood will smoke quite a bit, also I have some interesting blobs from tipping moulten silver slowly into a bucket of water

 Resurrecting this thread, I am a fairly new jewelry designer. Still learning different things such as working with wire, lost wax process, soldering and soon, sheet metal. From the beginning, without being told, I saved every scrap of cast off from my projects. I have small clear cases, pill bottles, even seed bead containers to save my scraps. They're all labeled Sterling Silver, Fine Silver, Copper, 14K Gold Filled, 18K Gold Filled, Argentium Silver and even Base Metals. Into the last, I toss silver and gold plated scraps, steel, etc. I've heard that all metals can be melted and re-used. I'm not at the point where I've got a crucible or kiln... yet, but seeing as I paid for the materials per ounce, I hate to think of throwing out mistakes that cost me money. I know eventually someone will be able to use the materials, even if it's not me. :)

Miki

Yep and Gold too.   Ripley

Garfield will also take scrap for refining, and they have a quick turnaround time.  Saving all your scraps, even the dust, was one of the first things I learned.  If you don't want to do any casting you can at least melt down small pieces to make silver balls.

 If you do send off for refining you will need to keep the metals separate as one poster already mentioned.  I think you can save all your fine and sterling silver together; all the gold together too - when the refining is done they will calculate the amount of pure gold or silver in your scrap and pay you accordingly.

I would keep the enameled wire separate; I believe it can be recycled, but I think it requires extra processing to clean.