stack is too hot (but you already knew that :)) I saw a guy doing exactly the same thing, had to wait for it to cool and solidify before he could apply any compression or it bled out like an overcooked grilled cheese sandwich :blink: don't try to forge the stack while its red, once its cooled enough to not run out stick it in the vice between some thick-ish steel plates (if you don't still have it bound up in your bonding plates/jig) and give it a gradual but firm squeeze to help consolidate the bond.  working stacks with silver is getting into textbook theoretical and observation of others for me though, iv not ventured into that territory yet, still playing with copper/nickel/brass etc.

 

one thing to keep in mind though: do NOT attempt to stack up silver (fine or sterling) directly against brass!  you can separate them with a layer of copper or whatever, but silver and brass have a low temperature phase where they basically make silver solder and melt out long before you reach bonding temps for the rest of the stack, which would be extremely dangerous if you pulled it out and started to hammer on it without realizing that the billet was partially liquefied.

Oh I've already learned about that the hard way.  I got sprayed with molten silver pretty badly on the face and hands.  Got some brass in my shoe today.

 

I can't get my friend to send me these pictures directly, so here are some links.

 

A photo posted by MadLabsCollective (@madlabscollective) on Sep 12, 2013 at 3:27pm PDT

A photo posted by MadLabsCollective (@madlabscollective) on Sep 12, 2013 at 3:23pm PDT

sorry to hear that you got burned =/ PPE is a must, and keep your slack tub close!  billets are looking good though :)