Hygrade Casting will be closed from 20th December 2024 and re-opening again 20th January 2025. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Hygrade Casting will be closed from 20th December 2024 and re-opening again 20th January 2025. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
We provide optional post-processing services that save time behind the bench and money associated with gold loss, from simple flush-cuts to enhanced surface texture to age-hardening treatments.
We offer five optional post-processing services, each designed to save you time, labour, gold loss and headaches. They're charged separately from casting and metal processing fees, so you can see exactly where your money’s going. No bundling, no guesswork. Every casting is a clean, abrasive-free dull finish known as a true raw casting.
Some of our clients want a "clip n ship" service (no post-processing options) whilst others want their castings "clean n lean" (with post-processing), we cater for both, without playing hide-and-seek with your margins. You can pick and choose what post-processing options you want.
You may notice some casting houses include things like our Ultra-Satin Finishing and/or Flush-Cutting by default. Sounds generous, until you realise those costs are quietly baked into their metal pricing at a much higher rate. So yes, you’re paying for it whether you asked for it or not.
Transform your casting from raw and dull state to a refined and clean surface with our Ultra-Satin Finish, a premium surface treatment ideal for those chasing a higher standard straight out of the flask.
We use a precision-calibrated vapour honing system that combines nano micro-glass beads, water, and high-pressure air that gently removes the raw casting skin (including removing all of the oxides on the outer surface) to a smooth and satin finish. This post-processing surface treatment creates a consistent, ultra-fine satin finish that’s ideal prior to magnetic pin polishing, or for clients who simply want a cleaner starting point with minimal gold loss.
This is a true micro-abrasive process, removing on average 1 micron across the entire piece: around 0.01 - 0.02g of gold on a typical 18 karat gold ring. Unlike rougher blasting methods used elsewhere, we don’t hide porosity with heavy grit, we’d rather show you what’s there than mask it and pretend it isn’t (we have a 99% success rate with porosity free castings).
Note: This is not a full polish, printing lines and surface texture will remain visible. The tiny amount of gold lost in this process is unrecoverable, as it becomes permanently mixed with the micro-glass media that is impossible to separate/refine.
Our Ultra-Shine service transforms raw, abrasive-free castings into a clean, ultra-bright finish through a two-stage micro-abrasive process designed for professionals who don’t have time for inefficiencies.
Gold Loss You Can Actually Measure for 18 Karat gold:
Most jewellers quietly bleed gold at this stage, chasing micrograms of dust through filters, buckets, and refining slips that never pay out. Add up the time, the wasted labour, the underperforming refining returns and it’s clear: you're not saving money, you're losing it. We’ve built this service to reduce your losses, save you time, and streamline your output. No mess, no guesswork, no hidden weight loss, you’re invoiced only on the final post-finish weight.
Note: This is not a full polish. Printing lines and surface texture will remain visible.
Our flush-cut service reduces the main feeder sprue length from the standard 5 - 10mm length down to around 2.00mm from the casted item. We do not go any closer as we do not want to risk damaging your castings. Using industrial-grade equipment and precision German-made flush-cutting blades, we handle the heavy work, but note, this is not a full de-sprue; filing and sanding is still required on your end.
For an average 18k gold ring, we remove roughly 0.70 - 1.30g of gold (depending on the thickness of the feeder sprue). You’re not billed for this material as we retain it, which lowers your invoice, cuts down on your own refining, and streamlines production as it allows your jeweller to go straight to filing.
Ideal for workshops processing multiple jobs or working under pressure, but just as useful for one-offs where time and metal efficiency count.
Our Cut n Save Service, is designed to safely remove the internal flow gates from your casted items without damaging or deforming them. We use a micro-motor hand piece with a small circular saw (similar thickness of a jewellers saw blade), to cut the internal flow gates off from a 45 degree angle.
We leave approximately 2.00 - 3.00mm of material at each contact point leaving them ready for filing, sanding and polishing, this is done to ensure we do not damage your castings profile and so the motor micro's shaft does not touch your item. Our standard fee for this services covers a regular sized ring with up to 4 contact points. Items with more than 4 contact points or large bangles need to be quoted.
For a typical average sized 18 karat gold ring with four contact points at 1.4mm thickness, the Snip n Save Service removes approximately 0.70 - 1.0 grams of gold. The gold removed is not invoiced (as we keep this gold). This saves you time and eliminates the losses associated with refining, on larger pieces such as bangles, this service can account for a gold saving of 20 - 40 grams.
For clients seeking enhanced hardness and tensile strength in their 18-karat gold castings (not recommended for silver or 9-karat), we offer a mild age-hardening treatment for certain designs.
Age hardening is a 3-5 hour process that increases the durability of your pieces while maintaining a careful balance, avoiding the excessive brittleness associated with “stronger” hardening methods. This process changes the grain structure of the metal, resulting in a mild increase in tensile strength without compromising structural integrity. The outcome is a casting that is significantly more resistant to bending and scratching.
The treatment is performed in a fully temperature-controlled environment, where your castings are heated to precise temperatures, held for the optimal duration, and cooled according to the metal type. This ensures even, consistent results across every piece.
Age hardening is an optional service, suitable only for items that will not require soldering, heating, or bending of prongs/claws, for example, a solid thick signet ring. Bending prongs on age-hardened metal will cause the prongs to snap. Likewise, if heat from a blowtorch is applied, the grain structure will change to a soft state (annealing), making the age-hardening treatment ineffective and a waste of time and money.
