I want to try my hand at making a hammered copper bowl, but I’m having a hard time finding copper sheet metal for a reasonable price. So far I’ve been quoted $50 per square foot at Metal Supermarkets in Plano and $100 for a 24x24 sheet by Metals 4 U in Dallas. I may be way off base here, but these quotes seem extremely high to me. I know that copper is an expensive metal now, but I was under the impression that it was something like $7-$10/lb based on my (admittedly fairly cursory) research.
Does anybody know where a good place to buy it would be, and also what kind of pricing I should consider reasonable? I’d like about a square about 2 to 3 foot, and I think it needs to be at least 16 gauge (12 or 14 would be better).
I’m trying to make it maybe 18-20" in diameter. Its going to be the bowl for a small bird/bee bath that I plan to hang using some macrame rope. I was told by several sources that copper helps to keep the water cleaner (although even if that’s not necessarily true I still like the idea/look of a hammered copper bowl for this).
I’ve never done this before, although I’ve watched many, many youtube videos. I figured I could waste $10-$20 on the experience even if it doesn’t pan out right, but $50 is a bit much.
I know you are joking here, @Tapper, but I still have old copper based DSL at home (old neighborhood) and twice AT&T has had to replace the copper between the pole in my backyard and the one down the street.
Yep, that was the idea. I’ll still have to clean the water occasionally, but it would help a bit. Figured I’d put in a little fountain like this one to keep the water moving and keep it from becoming a mosquito lair.
Data cable isn’t worth the time to recycle it. It is such a waste of effort to steal that stuff. The only time I’ve ever felt there was value in recycling jacketed, low voltage cable is when you’re picking it up to throw it away anyway. Power cable, on the other hand, can add up fast. I have seen supply lines stolen from construction sites fairly frequently.