Fe-Wood Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I have to cast 2 sterling silver rings by Wednesday. I have all I need except the crucible. I'm wondering if I coat my steel melting cup with ITC-100- Will the ITC-100 will stick to the cup under the heat (After it dries of course) and the silver will not stick to the ITC? Anybody done this? I also have some soft fire brick I could make a crucible with but I think it a bit soft.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 So- I guess nobody had any info on using ITC-100 as a refractory on steel. So- I will share what I ended up doing. I was worried about the ITC sticking to the steel. I have a steel cup I use for Pewter casting and it works fine. Silver on the other hand is to hot for the steel. I was to chicken to try. What I ended up doing was taking a soft high temp fire brick and carving out a cup shape with a pouring spout and coating it with the ITC-100. The ITC works so well, I was able to pick up the cup with hot Silver in it by hand!! I was concerned that the flux would eat the brick. Not a problem... Here are the two Prairie Diamonds I cast in Sterling Silver and then Forged to give them a rough handmade look. I used Cuttle Bone as the mold.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 For small silver castings I have just used a stainless steel creamer heated in my coal forge. (Volcano fire---like Mt Fuji with lots of coke underneath to keep the SS from scaling away. SLOW air. Borax or powdered charcoal to keep O2 down. You want replies you need to give it time for people to see it or move to a chat room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I know nothing about your coating stuff but you can melt a few ounces of silver in the hollow of a piece of soft pine wood without too much trouble and then pour it. The pine chars up, smokes and you then have a charcoal lined hole for the silver to rest in. I know this is not the best solution but it works. Thomas has an OK solution too. Just never use a pipe cap that is hot dipped galvanized, then you end up with a silver solder ring not a sterling silver ring. I have even used a stoneware coffee mug as a crucible, it is a one shot deal though. I think you rings look pretty good B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chyancarrek Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Nice work Fe - I like 'em! I just saw this thread or I would have posted some suggestions earlier - sounds like you worked it out just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
km69stang Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 What did you use to carve out the firebrick? Your method of making a crucible seems like a pretty ingenious one. I may go so bold as saying that it may be cheaper than buying a bunch of high priced graphite crucibles and going through the tedious process of tempering them and possibly having them break! And have you used that crucible since? Has anything happened to it, chipped, cracks, broke? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I have made some simple "crucibles" out of the soft high temp fire bricks by just cutting them into cubes with an old hand saw and then use and an old paddle style wood bit in the drill press to make the hole. It works just fine for small amounts of brass or bronze so it should work just fine for silver or gold, however it may catch a bit of gold in all the crevices and crannies in the sides where the paddle bit made the hole. I only use two or three times and then throw them away. I get eight mini crucibles per brick and melt the metal with my air/acetylene torch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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