I just bought some new pitch. The funny thing is, Ive never had to
remove new pitch from the can. Does anyone have any handy ideas how to
remove the new pitch from the can to the pitch bowl? Thanks for the
help.
Chris
My favorite way to remove pitch from the can is this: Leave the lid on
the can and pound on the sides with a hammer (you don’t care what the
can ends up looking like, do you?). Don’t hit it so hard that you
punch holes in the metal. This will shatter the pitch inside and you
can take the lumps out as you need them. As you need more, pound on
the can some more.
David L. Huffman
Chris, If you have just purchased black pitch in the can, I would say,
leave it in the can and return it immediately to your vendor. The
commercial black pitch is awful stuff and is a disservice to anyone
trying to do chasing and repousse. It burns hot and smelly and you
need really good venilation. The red German pitch available from
Allcraft is superior in strength and elasticity. Valentin Yotkov who
regularly teaches with us swears by this wonderful product. I have
the entire protocol on how to prepare your pitch bowl developed by
Valentin and Anne Hollerbach. The red pitch requires little heat to
move it out of the pitch bowl. We use ChapStick and a heat gun!
Email me off line for details.
-k
Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Dear Chris, A double boiler should do the trick. I will emphasize
that under no circumstances should you get it on yourself. In fact,
have a container of cold water handy for that possibility. The pitch
I favor, Northwest Pitchworks if memory serves, comes in milk
cartons. The technique I learned involves an ax or a sledgehammer.
One can also soften pitch with a hot air gun, the type used for
removing wall paper. I prefer that to a torch for rearranging my
bowl. The other trick I’ll share is that quick setting cement with
some indentations to hold the pitch better than pitch alone. Just
pour in enough to fill half the bowl. Use a few spacers, candles and
carrots will both work, When the cement sets and you remove the
spacers you have a nice place for the pitch to hang on. The
heaviness of the cement makes the bowl more stable and cement costs
much less than pitch.
Best of Luck,
Pauline
This might work. Try heating the can of pitch with a heat gun so
as to soften it, then scoop it out using a spotlessly clean trowel,
or large spoon. You can heat not only the container, but the pitch
itself. Lacking a heat gun, you may have to resort to heating the
pitch with your torch----but you must be very careful not to scorch
to pitch or you will ruin it. The Heat gun is much preferred.–
hope this helps. Alma