July 16, 200916 yr Good evening, Just tried very unsuccessfully to melt down the leftover scraps of copper I have as well as a few lengths of wire. Basically, what I did was cut up the copper into short strips and placed into an old iron ladle. I made a coke/coal fire and put the ladle with copper over the center, banking coke and coal around the edges so the flames would go up the sides of the ladle. I then covered my forge (made of a 22" plow disc) with a slightly larger disc. I have 2 passes cut through the forge to insert long stock so the fire had plenty of breathing room. any how, I got small bit to melt, but this was after 45 mins of cranking like a madman on the blower and constantly pushing new coal to the sides and under the ladle. The ladle was turning bright yellow when I decided to stop for fear of melting it. I thought copper melted roughly 2000 degrees? Is there a better way to do this or something I am missing? I was hoping to melt the scraps into copper bars so I could try my hand at cold forging some jewelry... Thank you, -Grant
July 16, 200916 yr Sorry but copper just don't roll that way, brass yes, bronze yes, copper no. Pure copper just is too pure to melt in a crucible, it just kind of lays there and stares back at you. There are ways around it but not in your setup so take your copper scrap in and sell it, then buy what you want to forge. Copper forges best cold and then annealed often. I use #6 ground wire for most of my jewelery needs such as bracelets and rings. Anneal when it starts to resist the hammer. If and when I want to join it I use a cold connection or silver solder. Flat sheet can be formed and cold joined too.:rolleyes:
July 16, 200916 yr Melting temp of a cast iron ladle: 2150 - 2360 Melting temp of pure copper: 1983 as you usually heat something Hotter then melting temp if you want to pour it you are in the DANGER ZONE! Also copper absorbs O2 from the atmosphere when it's hot turning into a ceramic, nice and shiny and copper looking but you won get it to melt or pour. When melting copper in a crucible you either melt it under a layer of powdered charcoal or flux it with borax.
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