Honestly, I have found melting copper wire almost impossible even in a gas furnace that easily melts copper piping. not sure what the alloy they use for it is, but its something to stop it from melting with the heat of a power surge. You did great on this project and don't get discouraged when it decides not to work like it is supposed to.
Great effort! Iv been there where you were. Getting clay not to explode and crack when fired is harder than it seems. 1. knead it more and in bigger quantities. It needs to be really consistent. 2. dry it more and get to temperature slower. 3. adding grog to clay helps a lot. The higher the planned temperature of use for crucible the more grog is needed. 4 your "surviving" vessels had visible cracks in them. Better to make new than waste time on cracked crucible that spills all your hard work. 5. smelting metals in woodfire needs more fuel and more time than is first thought. Use pipe (clay or metal) to blow air under the fire. Just fanning from top does not give enough temperature. It also cools the metal and adds unwanted oxygen into mix when metal starts to melt.
Le a quedado muy bien el hacha y muy verídica la prueba de campo. 🇨🇴
Honestly, I have found melting copper wire almost impossible even in a gas furnace that easily melts copper piping. not sure what the alloy they use for it is, but its something to stop it from melting with the heat of a power surge. You did great on this project and don't get discouraged when it decides not to work like it is supposed to.
Cool video hope you make more
Great effort! Iv been there where you were.
Getting clay not to explode and crack when fired is harder than it seems.
1. knead it more and in bigger quantities. It needs to be really consistent.
2. dry it more and get to temperature slower.
3. adding grog to clay helps a lot. The higher the planned temperature of use for crucible the more grog is needed.
4 your "surviving" vessels had visible cracks in them. Better to make new than waste time on cracked crucible that spills all your hard work.
5. smelting metals in woodfire needs more fuel and more time than is first thought. Use pipe (clay or metal) to blow air under the fire. Just fanning from top does not give enough temperature. It also cools the metal and adds unwanted oxygen into mix when metal starts to melt.