I needed a 1 1/8" round bar of nickel silver and was not able to find any. So I had no choice but to make one. I started with nickel silver powder and made a disposable crucible out of Greencast3000 furnace cement.
Here is video of the pour. Since nickel silver can have 40-60% zinc the fumes are very irritating and I used good air flow during the melt with a box fan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt6EJdBLLfA
The mold was cast by using a small plastic container filled with refractory cement and a 1 1/8" dowel coated with wax poked in. When the cement started setting up I pulled the dowel out. That also speeds up th drying process. After it dried I baked it at 250 for three hours to remove any water.