Hi. Lately I’ve been playing with Argentium silver but I am a bit stuck at this point. I am using a crucible to melt it and I pour it into a charcoal block channel. However, even though small pieces turn out fine, larger pieces (10 grams) are experiencing a rather strange problem. The underside and the lower sides of the ingot crack when hammered or rolled. I tried to melt with less oxygen (oxy propane setup), melt directly into the charcoal block, stir it (using boric acid), nothing seems to fix it.
One thing, the top of the ingot looks smooth and fine but the underside is not that way (might be due to the charcoal not being smooth). Could this be the culprit?
Any idea?