How to repair an old silicone mold?

[belloq]

At some point the mold was torn and repaired with what looks like common white household caulking. While the repair did hold part of the tear together, it was botched and a seam and part of the mold is distorted and it distorts the castings. I want to remove the caulking, reset the seam and mold properly so there is no distortion and then re-repair the tears so it can produce a few more accurate castings. Questions:

Is there any way to remove silicone caulking from a silicone mold other than just carefully picking at it with an exacto knife and tweezers?

Is silicone caulking actually the recommended repair material for silicone molds anyway?

Thanks.

 

[Jedirick]

I have on occassion cut away old damaged areas of a mold and repaired them by adding new silicone.

I've used 100% silicone in a caulk tube before but frankly it takes to long to set and does not firm up evenly. Seems thicker places take forever to cure.I prefer using a quick set silicone from Silicone Inc.

Some people will just add more catalyst to get the base to set quicker for faster repairs but that also can make the silicone much more prone to tears.

If you had a pull that has had mold repair blemishes corrected, you could reinsert that into the mold prior to repair to aid in securing a better fit.

 

[belloq]

The casting I have unfortunately includes the distortion, so I think I'll do my best to remove the caulking, repair the mold's inside surface and then hope that strengthening the outside with a bit of brushable silicone will help correct the distortion and get the seam to seat correctly against the old casting. Thanks.