Anyone ever have their silver sputter and boil??

[Satori]

So I've been trying to fume some pieces today and it's worked alright so far, I think. But I've noticed that as I'm melting the silver, it starts to boil and sputter and shoot off little pieces of silver that end up stuck to my piece. Am I doing something wrong? I am using a fairly oxidizing flame and I am trying to not hold the silver too close to the base of the flame, so it won't get too hot, but it still seems to melt and then immediately boil and start shooting little sparks of silver onto my piece. It seems to be fuming ok, but there are all these little specks of silver on there too that I don't want.

Help anyone?

[jusbag]

Turn the oxy down. I use a flame that is very soft about 7 inches long with 1/2" candles. Put the silver right into the candle(red) part near your torch.

[Satori]

Ok, I'll try that out. I don't know why I thought I was supposed to use an oxidizing flame...I guess I thought I read that somewhere. Oh well! I'll see if that works instead!

Thanks!

[Satori]

So I tried that out and it worked a little bit better...still had some sputtering though. Is it possible I have unpure silver?? I bought it from ABR Imagery because they were the only ones I could find who had little beads of it. Anyone have any other comments??

[Fire on the mountain]

if your getting sputtering, your probably using too big of a chunk of silver. I would get a silver dollar (1 oz for $10) and cut it up real small.

[Brian Newman]

Turn down the heat and use a small piece.

[jiminyrootkit]

i had that happen when i first fumed silver for a bit....i assume it was the wrong flame, cause it doesn't do it now, and i have the same silver i've had for 2 yrs.
-f

[jusbag]

how far are you holding your peice from the silver? I usually have the peice I am fuming about 10" from the silver.

[rumplephorskin]

don't be afraid to adjust your flame while the silver is in it. if you turn your oxygen way down and adjust your propane till youve got a flame that looks like a glorified bic lighter flame; youll be getting into the right flame range. keep turning the propane down and the flame will keep getting smaller and youll probably get a tiny light blue flame that'll fume for you just fine. when you had the silver spattering you were close, go back to there and adjust with the silver in the flame till it starts smoking like crazy.also VERY IMPORTANT....... tilt your torch forward so that if the silver runs off the punty it doesnt fall into the face of your torch.

[Satori]

Thanks for the replies guys. I will try these new things next time I get a chance to.

rumplephorskin - I did already figure out to tilt the torch way forward as I nearly spilled some silver on it the second time I fumed anything. I barely missed the torch head and it splashed on the base of the torch, leaving some ugly silver streaks. But oh well, it's only asthetic whereas had it hit the head it would've been bad news!

As for silver size, I am using little tiny pellets of silver that I bought from ABR:
http://www.dichroicimagery.com/default.php?cPath=21&osCsid=fb9ed3c0e22a1a2625f43b2906078114

I was holding the piece maybe 5-7" from the silver. I will try holding it farther away and using a different flame.

Probably won't get to it today, but I'll let you guys know how it goes next time I get a chance!

Thanks to everyone again!

[ADelpapa]

I notice that my silver spits for a second, then smooths out and stops spitting. I always keep my piece out of the flame until the siver quits spitting, then put my piece into the fume.

[harpentuan]

Are you letting your silver cook a little first? marver it a little after a lite cooking, then heat back in the flame.

maybe, just maybe...

[T Lewis Glass]

If your silver is falling off your rod in a molten mess ,,, you have way to much silver !!!

Use a piece of silver way smaller than you think you need ,, a little bit goes a long way ....

Try using the smallest piece you can cut off one of those little bb's



~Todd

[Mark F]

I only use a little bit on a rod and When it starts to fume I bounce it in and out of the flame. I never hold it in the flame.

[VinE]

silver is actually exploding when you fume. in a 360 direction.

or thats what milon says in one of his books.

he suggests putting up a sheild in addition to having ventilation.

[john madden]

this sputtering can actually have a cool effect on fumed blue tubing that is sleeved w/ clear. looks like stars in the galaxy. its a totally usable mistake.

[burnoutboy]

VERY IMPORTANT....... tilt your torch forward so that if the silver runs off the punty it doesnt fall into the face of your torch.

oh, hell yeah. you don't want to tag your torch dude, it sucks, and you'll go blind, i went cross eyed :twitch:

[burnoutboy]

I only use a little bit on a rod and When it starts to fume I bounce it in and out of the flame. I never hold it in the flame.

Really? how is that working out for you???

[blazeoffire]

Are you for real?


oh, hell yeah. you don't want to tag your torch dude, it sucks, and you'll go blind, i went cross eyed :twitch:

[eternalfrost]

i use a pretty small, very propane rich flame. should have hardly any blue in the flame at all. holding the silver just past the tip of the candles. it will usually sputter as soon as it melts then even itself out. you only need a tiny tiny pice, like half a bb pellet size is plenty. leave your glass out of the flame till the silver settles down. holding the glass near to the end of the flame.