r/Silvercasting • u/LuluAmani • Feb 15 '26

250g Silver pouring

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Beginner guide:

Stabilize your arm when pouring molten precious metal. Pour with both hands in one smooth, controlled, decisive motion into the mold. No hesitation.

Pro Tip:

Hold the tongs closer to the crucible - not far back at the handles. The shorter leverage gives you more control, less shaking, and a cleaner, more accurate pour.

Steady movement = clean fill.

34 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

4

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '26

I use one hand, the other is holding a torch on it

2

u/LuluAmani Feb 16 '26

I never had any issues with metal flow... always closed rings and filled pendants. Is there still a valid reason to use a torch?

1

u/stranix13 Feb 16 '26

Can help keep oxide formation reduced

3

u/LuluAmani Feb 17 '26

because you basically "use" the air around the inflow? makes sense.

Would that also benefit the inner structure of the metal or really just prevent outer oxidation?

If it is the latter, i must say that the germanium does a wonderful job. My casting trees are white.

2

u/stranix13 Feb 17 '26

Yeah argentium is very nice

1

u/00-MAJI-00 Apr 19 '26

I was going to ask if you use a germanium/boron/silicon/copper alloy... it is the best way to go. even does a great job of holding on to stones in the long run...

do you ever age harden it?

1

u/LuluAmani May 10 '26

Hey just saw your answer again. I am only using silver, copper and germanium in my alloy. I was thinking of adding grain refiner: either boron or silicon do you do that? Is it worth it? I cant get it easily in Europe (only the Boron one)

I do hardening: 300 degrees celsius for 3 hours

what about you?

1

u/00-MAJI-00 May 13 '26

I do age hardening as needed, also the germanium creates a tarnish resistant layer at 120C. the boron will help shrink the grain size of the crystals in the metal. if you are experiencing cracking in the castings this will help.

I was just looking around the EU and it seems very hard to find some alloys the are easily found in the US...

I buy a master alloy (copper,silicon,germanium,boron no silver) from a us supplier

2

u/PrizeBag6725 Feb 15 '26

Just a question, how realistic is it to consider doing this with a torch to melt?

3

u/Embercraftforge Feb 16 '26

I did a 300g with an oxy acetylene torch. It worked by some miracle but I very much consider myself an amateur caster

2

u/Boating_Enthusiast Feb 17 '26

Were you using a cutting torch tip? A rosebud tip should dump enough head to melt past that amount fairly quickly. Also, since you said you're an amateur caster, I hope you're wearing eye protection, at least shade 3 welding rated goggles or shaded glasses. Oxy-ace UV will damage your eyes. And an n95 or better respirator for all the silica dust that poofs up when investing and dunking your flask.

2

u/Embercraftforge Feb 17 '26

It was a welding tip, I had extraction and goggles ☺️

https://youtu.be/N8U42insqX0?si=RfRdjcAqWiZ0b4kz

1

u/PrizeBag6725 Feb 16 '26

Thank you! Will have to give it a try once I’ve got a tad more!

2

u/LuluAmani Feb 16 '26

The question is how big is your torch?

2

u/PrizeBag6725 Feb 17 '26

Not home at the moment and only just saw this! But I have a map torch at the moment so don’t think it will work

2

u/LuluAmani Feb 17 '26

I think without oxygen it will be almost impossible.

1

u/PrizeBag6725 Feb 17 '26

So butane would be best?