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question for seasoned hand pour artists, newby issues.


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I've spent quite a bit of time on gootube and have scoured the internet a bit but haven't found a great source for in depth knowledge on torch casting silver and problems that may arise. I've jumped right in and have made some pieces that I'm quite proud of and even sold a few but getting consistent results has been very difficult. I'm using an oxygen acetylene torch in a 3" ceramic bowl crucible and casting into a petrobond mold. my issues,

1. lack of detail which I've attributed to not getting the silver hot enough even though the mold has completely filled. does that sound right?

2. torch setting, I've noticed on a few random castings air releasing from the top of the fill sprew upon cooling, am I introducing air into the silver? how do I remove the air or avoid this all together?

3. am I over heating the silver? after three attempts this morning I finally got what I though was a decent cast but closer inspection revealed tiny mountain range like structures/protrusions randomly cutting through the details of the piece. any idea whats causing this?

any resources are greatly appreciated, thanks in advance for the advice and comments!

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7 hours ago, Liam84 said:

Have you watched any @BackyardBullion?

Hey Liam84, I hadn't seen that one, thanks. he really has a tone of great content, maybe I haven't gone back far enough but the only issues he seems to have is being .1 gram over or under his goal. I will however keep watching. thank you!

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Are you doing everything with the acetylene torch? With a furnace everything will get heated evenly, is it possible that if you're using a (single?) torch it's not keeping the heat in all the melt evenly thereby causing it to cool faster in some parts than others? 

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yeah, I'm doing everything with the oxy/acetylene torch, I'm not quite ready to invest in a furnace just yet. I move around the outside of the silver with the torch and shake the crucible around until I can see the full mass of silver is liquid If I leave it long enough the silver gets a light red glow which I'm afraid may be too hot at that point? here's a photo of the strange eruption of mountain ranges, these were cast one after the other, I'm at a loss as to what I did differently.

 

pourissue.jpg

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I've had a chunk of sand fall into the mold which didn't seem to effect the cast other then leaving a void where I didn't plan one. this one was strange in that it seemed to cool, the sprew matted over then the mold suddenly popped open.. is it air escaping?? so frustrating.

plenty of people are making great hand casts with just a little map gas torch, unfortunately nobody seems to be posting their failures to learn from. maybe its normal to have 2 out of 3 pours fail? doesn't seem right though.

Edited by CurioBullion
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i,m sure i read somewhere that silver ( when it is molten) can absorb up to ten times its volume of oxygen

could the fact you are melting it with an oxy torch mean you are introducing too much gas into the molton silver?

causing the eruptions?

just a thought 

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On 11/06/2021 at 16:33, CurioBullion said:

Hey Liam84, I hadn't seen that one, thanks. he really has a tone of great content, maybe I haven't gone back far enough but the only issues he seems to have is being .1 gram over or under his goal. I will however keep watching. thank you!

Are you selling on TSF?

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1 hour ago, greendragon said:

i,m sure i read somewhere that silver ( when it is molten) can absorb up to ten times its volume of oxygen

could the fact you are melting it with an oxy torch mean you are introducing too much gas into the molton silver?

causing the eruptions?

just a thought 

cheers i thought it was only aluminium that had this issue

shot_1.jpg

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8 hours ago, greendragon said:

i,m sure i read somewhere that silver ( when it is molten) can absorb up to ten times its volume of oxygen

could the fact you are melting it with an oxy torch mean you are introducing too much gas into the molton silver?

causing the eruptions?

just a thought 

20 times! geez, I've been heating the silver pretty rapidly, I'll experiment with adjusting the oxygen as low as possible to hopefully insure its all going toward helping the gas burn and see if I notice a difference. That's a good start, Thanks!

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4 hours ago, CurioBullion said:

No, only because I'm not a paying member just yet, other platforms but I understand I'm not to promote myself without paying the dues

It was more so I could have a look at what was for sale 😁

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On 15/06/2021 at 23:56, Liam84 said:

It was more so I could have a look at what was for sale 😁

oh well that's totally different, for reference and since I don't have anything offered for sale on my Instagram account maybe its ok if I mention that can be found under an IG search for curiobullion

you can see my designs, only six so far but a dozen more are in the works. Thanks for the interest!

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update. A few things, I played around with lowering the oxygen and kept the torch head 4-6" away from the silver, it took three times as long to heat up but poured well (over three casts anyway). Minimal air popping and only on one cast where I caught myself having crept in close with the torch head!! so that's it! keep the O2 down and the torch head well out of the silver. I also switched from Petrobond to Delft clay which, wow is so much easier to work with and definitely gives better detail!

Of course this just led to yet another question, the latest cast (below) before antiquing came out light like a tiny bit whitish with a hint of blue tint even after a light polish... very interesting maybe not enough oxygen to cleanly burn the acetylene? hum. I was digging it but the liver of sulfur gel brought it back to normal, I'll have to try and replicate that again and leave it be.

 

1.JPG

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4sm.jpg

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