i hear the word crucible used alot. can someone explain?

crucible - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Hey Wulfgar,

A crucible is a pot ,used to melt metal for casting.
I've used a carbon one for casting brass.

Grtz, Bart.

Hey Wulfgar,

Ditto to the above posters - Crucibles come in all sorts of sizes and materials depending on what they are used for - metal - carbon - ceramic.

My avatar is a number 80 crucible (if I remember correctly) holding about 300lbs of bronze - it's made of a silicon-ceramic.

Here's a couple of pics of one in use -

Wulfgar, they're used once you've been blacksmithing long enough that the metal is in your veins and you just choose to drink molten metal rather than coffee.

Nothin like a good cup'o'tool steel to get the morning started.

PS; thanks for asking because I didn't know either.

thank you for the helps everyone. i guess for my next questions...how does one obtain them....i dont need anything large.

try searching on google ill bet u will find a lot of them, also try ebay or amazon

Wulfgar,

Try these folks -

BCS - Budget Casting Supply

Great people to work with - always willing to answer a question and their carbon crucibles are really reasonable

I bought mine from Legend Mining Legend Inc. Sparks, Nevada USA . You can even get them in 6-packs!

Try also Pieh Tool Company. Pieh Tool Company, Inc.
They are a blacksmith and farrier supplier located in AZ.
Nice folks with many intresting things of interest to the blacksmith.

Edited May 18, 200917 yr by Charlotte
Corretion

I have bought several over the years from these guys Foundry Crucibles and they are nice to deal with. I use every thing from 1.5# to 25# capacity crucibles as these are the ones that I could handle by myself before my back injury. Anything bigger than this and it would be good to have help with the pour. You need a different crucible for each type of metal that you pour, aluminum, silicone bronze, brass (red and yellow), etc. Casting is so cool.:cool: