How to Clean Out a Crucible - Melting Down Gold and Silver

today's film is really gonna be a really really quick film it's a response to a question that was left on one of our previous YouTube films and the question was how do you clean your crucibles once you've been melting your gold and melting your silver in them that's what I'm gonna be answering today my name is Andrew berry and welcome to act the benches YouTube channel we do a lot of melting down here in our workshop in meltdown silver we melt down gold and we've been doing that for many many many years in fact when the first they actually started up in business a little bit of a messy workshop today we're downstairs in our workshop that's attached to our shop just to show you basically what I'm gonna do and how I'm gonna clean out these crucibles so we use these little two-inch crucibles that are attached to crucible holder and we find these are actually gorgeous you can mount a nearly 60 odd grams in these little crucibles we've got a larger Daisy on a mess we've got larger crucibles as well but we very very rarely use these these are absolutely huge and because they're bigger they do take an awful lot of heat to heat them up but as you can see in this particular crucible here we have got at this this coating coating is great it really should be quite clear or quite smoky this is really really quite dark as you can see Oh what happens if you're melting down some metal it happens to have some stones in it some synthetic stones or something like that or some impurities you have to have may have a little bit of a spring in it if you melt and some bolt thing is there are some catches those Springs and those odd bits of stones get caught up in the flux that happens to be left within the crucible and that's what you can see is in this little area here it's lovely and glaze which is what it should be it's dark and it needs cleaning out now there are various ways that we can clean out these crucibles for me the quickest and easiest way is once we have finished melting down finished melting down our silver our gold and poured it out into our in got molds like these here the crucible is nice and hot but then I would continue heating that crucible and if you hold that crucible vertical like this and you continue heating it all the flux will be molten and we'll all dribble down and dribble down out of the crucible and that's exactly what I'm going to quickly show you today you can let that flux end up on the soldiering boards or what I like to do is just dribble it and let it pour out onto a steel block or a steel base of one of the ingot molds that I've got here and that would be ideal because then it doesn't stick and doesn't damage your soldiering boards so that's what we're going to do let's just move those to one side there we go kick slide down here it's just a few days after Christmas and we really haven't had a chance to tidy up yet so let's just heat up this crucible and I'll show you what we're going to do now it doesn't have to be one of these torches it can be any sort of talking pig it'd be a little a handheld butane torch I see but towards propane torch this is we've got if you wants to light this is one with oxygen and propane and we are simply going to heat this up I would advise you because the flux does get really really bright so if you have some welding goggles I would seriously suggest you wear these because the light that is reflected back at you is very very bright and you could damage your eyesight so safety first put on your pair of dark glasses and just to put it where we started just to protect your eyes because the light is very very bright so let's just warm this up as I say I've got a little area by here that we're going to pour the excess flux onto it and we're going to heat this up [Music] it's always best to do this once you have heated up your silver or your gold and poured it out because the crucible is nice and hot and it'll only take a matter of a minute or so after you've melted it down just to get all the flux out and if you use one of these torches a little oxygen and propane torch you can use the flame to sort of push down the flux and push it out of the crucible if you use a little hand the hell butane torch a little sieve a torch it'll take a little bit longer and obviously if you are melting down your gold and your silver and you see some impurities in the crucible whilst you're melting down it's always best to take them out when you see them rather than let them stay in there and perhaps contaminate the next melt so you can see how bright now this crucible is we're paying attention to the top of the crucible here the back of the crucible we've got the crucible fairly vertical and we're gonna be heating up the flux and the flux is moving its way down the crucible there's very increase the heat of that a little bit better [Music] and by doing this and having the crucible upright the flux will work its way down to the lift you just simply pull it out it's as simple as that you can see the flux coming out of the crucible dripping onto the steel block I find this is an easier way to do it and quicker way of doing it and then when it comes down to the lift keep on heating and just let that flux or dribble out and then once all the flux is dribbled out take off your glasses and just check the bottom of the crucible you can see now on the bottom of the crucible there we've got some little little Springs that are left and when we have been melting some metal down just use a simple soldering pick now just to take them out [Applause] because we don't want them anywhere near our molten gold or silver the next time we melt down [Applause] there we go and there we have a lovely clean crucible ready for the next time we want to start melting down these little bits that you've got now down here as you can see they have come off that metal bit nice and easily these couple fish down here got stuck but there we go so what I would do is not even throw the little bits away I would put them into my perhaps my sweeps jar because there could be some little bits of gold some little bits of silver in that little bit of borax this come out but as you can see we've got a nice a lot of borax there that was coating that crucible and the crucible is still fine you've still got a coating of flux on that crucible so you don't have to sort of least seasoned that crucible again and that crucible is ready to live for another day simple simple technique so don't forget please subscribe if you haven't done so already don't forget please smash that little bell icon if that is something that you're into don't forget please give this film a thumbs up if you liked it and please share it with your friends I'd absolutely love you too anything else you want me to show you any little tips or tricks or any questions you've got please leave it in the comment section down below I'll try to answer as many as I can if I can't write a brief description well then perhaps I'll produce a little video like I have done for this film but in the meantime my name's andrew barry for at the benches youtube channel take care I will see you next time Dada a really quick film for you today this film is as is as a quick film for you today this film is is how they respond note is this film is a respond here and it was a question that was asked in as a question that was asking why am i using too many words just say well about Andrew just shut up is a response to a Utah my name's Andrew berry and welcome to act the benches YouTube channel yes I don't that take me four minutes forty seconds long I thought the film was gonna take smells in it and it subscribe if you haven't done so already smashed a little bell i can t fe it but if that isn't don't forget please subscribe if you haven't find a point in my there could be by there my goodbye here i can see it's by they can't yeah so no forget please subscribe please smash the little bell icon and why did that that way is now down below I'd absolutely love you chatting living or anyone anyway I come after I don't worry alright that's it that's that's all doesn't make do with the last one do you know what this film now is nearly twenty minutes long I've made so many mistakes 20 minutes long for how long is this film actually taken five minutes if that that's really embarrassing I'm not a one-take man about a 10 15 take a man anyway why am I talking now that's the end bye-bye [Music]

Channel: Andrew Berry

Views: 16,497

Rating: 4.9735684 out of 5

Keywords: clean_crucible, andrew berry, making your own jewelry, how to make a bezel, making jewellery, at the bench, andrew berry jewellery, making jewellery for beginners, jewelry making, how to make jewelry, how to, how to make, how to start making your own jewelry, sharpening tools, tool maintenance, cleaning crucible, melting gold and silver, melting silver, silver melting, gold melting, melting silver with propane torch

Id: P3K9RHyyWRk

Length: 11min 58sec (718 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 13 2020