# Melting cement silver in a new crucible



## jakospence (May 1, 2022)

My normal “silver” crucible is out of commission right now, so I used a brand new graphite clay Amazon special. I glassed it with borax like I usually do, but noticed that it’s not melting as quickly as usual. 

Last time I opened the propane foundry, I was hoping that it was just excess flux that made it look lumpy and that it was completely melted below. 

I noticed what looked like a purple plasma in the bottom of the crucible and something seemed to be boiling quite violently.

Now I know it’s possible to lose silver to vapor when using an Oxy-acetylene torch, but I’m no where near those temps with this propane foundry. 

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I tried to take a photo, but was unsuccessful. 

Either way, once this finally melts, I guess this is going into the silver cell that’s pregnant with copper as I don’t want to foul up any new electrolyte!


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## Martijn (May 2, 2022)

Graphite does not like borax. Did you melt silver in a glazed graphite crucible before and that went well?


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## BenKenobi (May 4, 2022)

Fastest way to kill a good quality Morgan Salamander or i presume any other clay graphite crucible is to put Borax in it, i killed a Salamander 0.5 doing exactly that.
If you do use a Morgan Salamander note they are pre coated but MUST be fired before use to set the protective glaze, some fluxes are highly Caustic to Clay Graphite, so be careful, my 0.5 still cost me $80 Aud and it was dead before it got used, if you get them from ebay they do not usually come with info sheets.
You will end up with Black graphite inclusions in your metal, learning curve for me.

As for purple, Potassium salts burn purple, think fireworks, other than that......no idea.


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