Melting scrap

Jewelry Discussion
1

Just a reminder that we are new at silver smiting and do not
have a kiln.

We are melting down scrap pieces and pouring them into rock salt
to form silver nuggets. Wash off the salt, file off any sharp
edges and run them through the vibrator . We then glue small
chips of hematite, onyx, or emeralds into the openings. This
makes a real nice pendant for practically no cost.

My question-we are melting the silver in the smallest ceramic
cup we can find, with a torch, but it is very difficult to keep
the silver hot enough to pour. Our torch is propane and oxygen.
Other than investing in a lot of new equiptment, any suggesting?
jb

J. Byers
(web page still under construction-please bear with us)
http://www.csranet.com/~phoenixe
@Phoenixe

2

Three things to check. First, are you using a rosebud tip?
Second, do you have a handle on your ceramic cup so that you can
keep the flame on the metal until you pour it? Third, have you
built a reflector area around your cup from firebrick so you can
keep more heat concentrated around the cup? Not all these things
are necessary, but one of them may help. Also, another thing
that is fun is broomstraw casting, pouring into wet broomstraw
instead of rock salt. Different shapes, same process.