Easy Crucible

Okay, for all those homegrown blacksmiths out there who want to know how to make an inexpensive crucible that will hold up under high heat but don't want to blow themselves up by cutting open a blowtorch refill I have a solution. what you do is get a 2 inch wide iron nipple and get a cap for it and walla! you have a sturdy crucible

Comments

[aserialpeace]

would like to note, be sure to use iron and not galvanized steel so you don't get zinc fumes. so picture is of the wrong type of pipe.

[lholliday]

Will this iron crucible be capable to melt silver

[weaponsmaster18]

plus to add to aserialpeace if you don't use a crucible specifically designed for silver u can actually tarnish the metal in the crucible and that would turn into a type of silver slag (I dont know the correct term) but in short it wouldn't be polishable at all those little bits

[aserialpeace]

Probably? It may be worth purchasing a crucible for silver melting for two reasons, though.

Firstly, there will be a little loss, especially on the first few uses, as the molten metal works its way into the small gap between the threads on the pipe. Surface tension should keep it from leaking, but capillary action will suck some into it.

Second, you will almost certainly have more slag and impurities in the silver than if you used a professional quality jewelers crucible. similarly, uneven heating etc may lose more to oxidation and burning off. Not a metallurgist, no idea, just a concern.

Since silver is fairly expensive, I think it's likely that the lost/damaged material would cost more than the difference in price between this and a proper jeweler's crucible, especially if you intend to do more than one casting.

[Flash59939]

This should work for copper and its alloys, correct?

[ngnak]

How many casts will this actually last through?

[Di Immortales]

Ngnak, this crucible has lasted me at least 30 castings and still works great!

[seamster]

Nice and easy! Thanks!