problem with blasting fume off the surface

[smolder holder]

Hi folks I've been having an issue with blasting all the fume off of my prodo pieces lately.

I work on a mirage. I fume, bake on with a reducing flame, w/r, melt and shape. And by the time I finish the piece you can barely tell that I fumed it at all.

I have tried working far out in the flame but that doesn't seem to help and also have tried hitting it with a reducing flame after working it to bring the fume back to no avail. I've also tried to make my outer flame less forceful but still not getting the results I want.

My pressures are set to 10 prop and 65 oxy. I work with a pretty oxidizing flame most of the time

Any tips would be very appreciated

[dOprah Winfrey]

What brand of clear are you using?

Based on what you said my guess is that your burning it off with your high oxy flame.

Its like when working a silver color on the surface, you blast it with an oxy flame to burn the haze off. Then you can reduce to bring back the haze. Do this enough time and eventually there will be no more silver left to haze up. Your fumed clear has less of a reserve of silver to keep hazing up, so it runs out quicker.

I'd work more neutral than oxydizing, and possibly even back down the oxy pressure a little. I don't run a Mirage but 65 seems forceful.

Then again, I might not have any idea what I'm talking about...

[B-Rye-oNeR]

I run mine at around 7-8 and a tad under 60 ,maybe even 55. I usually don't have much of a problem, unless I get the piece white hot, and continue to heat it. It does happen to me occasionally though. I guess I could use some fuming tips as well.

[Julian]

Pretty much, you just need to use a more gentle flame. You mean surface fuming, right? It's somewhat like working dichro. You can't get it too hot, for too long, or it will simply burn off. At that point I'd say it's more about temperature than atmosphere.

[kq9ak]

Turn your blue nobs almost off and slow down. I have the same problem when I try to spEed up prodo. The mirage can get the glass to hot and burn it off. Also hit the fume after applied with more oxy for a second than go back to reducing and it will help the fume adhere.

[Shatner]

Try dropping the propane to 5 or 6 psi. Use a neutral flame to bake it in.

[smolder holder]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll try that out.

The problem I get when I turn my propane psi down is my centerfire changes when I kick on the mirage. The upped propane pressure seems to have fixed the problem. until I can get regs at the torch that will have to do.

[dew]

not sure if this will work, but try letting those pieces sit in the kiln for a few cycles. who knows...maybe it'll bring some of that fume back out.

[Dom]

Turn down your propane to about 7, turn down your oxy to 40.

Then take the brush that cme with your torch and clean off the face really good.

For fuming I only use inner red and a touch of inner blue. A clean face helps with maintaining a good fuming flame.

[nodice]

For what it's worth, I don't think the pressure you run has anything to do with your fuming problems. Using a less oxy flame would probably help for that. If you're trying to make your propane pressure more consistent, and you have a reg on the tank, and a reg near the torch, upping the pressure on the tank reg can help....

[gn0me]

As an aside, it's easy to burn fume off with a CC/CC+ as well. Any time the silvered surface is exposed to flame, it's coming off - envision the sodium/lithium flare as being burned off silver at the same time. There are a couple things you can do to help, but unprotected silver will burn off when it's exposed, no matter what flame you use.

-when you're fuming outside, do it as soon as possible to the completion of the piece... try not to get the glass white hot while working, and make your shaping steps deliberate and concise. Avoid lots of reheating and overwork.
-soak the piece in heat with a reducing flame rather than blasting it with an oxidizing flame - the latter heats up the surface more quickly than the inside of the glass, beating on the area you're trying to preserve.
-avoid making welds that need careful polishing afterwards... as before, soak the piece you've silvered with a reducing flame, and heat the part you're welding on more. If the weld does need to be melted in, focus heat on the piece you welded on, or soak the whole area. Using a forceful, oxidizing flame on the seam will burn off the fume in that area.
-in short, work like you've coated the whole piece in yellow crayon powder, or get that fume under some clear...

Oh, also try baking in the fume with an oxidizing flame, and then working as above... you can get some very vibrant blues and whites that way :D