5.5 troy ounce .999 silver leftover from 4.5 ounce pour.
If you are a silver stacker you may be interested in this post. It is pic heavy with a lot of great pouring and silver pictures.
A friend of mine here at steemit got me interested in pouring my own coins, ingots, bars, keys you get the picture. I am looking around the house for interesting stuff to turn into silver molds.
You know how some people bring out the best in not just you but everyone around that person? Well by no coercion just by being herself got me interested in this new hobby.
Today I decided to do my first silver pour.
I had the furnace, the 10 ounce silver bar, the molds, the clay, the tongs, the magic crucible, gloves, goggles, long sleeves, fire extinguisher, pavers, sturdy table, hammer and all the other tools needed....oh and discord.
What I really needed was confidence.
My two cheerleaders/encouragers were there and they made the difference.
and
I could not have done it without you two ladies!!!
I was on discord telling them step by step what was happening.
Top number is what the temp is bottom is what is needed. Top is 590 Cel top is 1094 Cel.
"Okay it is heating fast"
Silver melts at 1769 but the furnace needed to be at 1094C (2000F) to throughly melt.
Getting closer.
Almost there.
Around this time
said "I think that deserves a SQUEE!"
"A Squee I asked?"
She replied
"An excitable noise by this idiot here
That's why I couldn't be trusted with one of these. I basically revert to toddler mode"
I told her that she knew as much about it as I do. Lol
She was being so encouraging.
I briefly jumped off discord and donned all my protective gear, shut the dog up in another room, told my son with special needs "to sit on the couch and don't move. Unless," I added "something bad happens, then call 911".
The mold was made.
It's time to pour. I opened the lid and peered inside the furnace eyes, blinking against the heat. I felt hot everywhere like being too close to a volcano.
The silver was pure and clear. It appeared to be magic water from a high mountain, unpolluted spring. It beckoned to me "drink me, drink me".
At that temp were it to spill or splatter or be sipped what would happen?
I looked it up later when typing this post. If it were the tiniest split second of a touch. The Leidenfrost Effect would turn the moisture on my body to steem and if the hand, appendage leg was removed quickly enough a steem burn would result.
The problem would be pulling back fast enough without getting any metal on me. If the molten metal was in contact with my hand, leg, esophagus a tiny, tiny split second longer it would burn a hole straight through my body devouring nerves, bone whatever got in the way most likely assuring amputation.
Dear friends, no matter how much it beckons....I am not going to touch or drink it. Kids and adults please don't attempt this in your own living room!!
The sand is on fire.
Here is the exciting part....:24 second video
If your speakers are on I was holding my breath. The sound like Darth Vader I think was coming from the sand on fire sucking oxygen in. Pretty cool huh?
Just poured
Little cooler
Notice the black ring of burnt sand and the orange still good sand.
Once cooled the silver came out easily (I still had heavy leather gloves on).
I poured the sand mold level full but the "water" silver was much smaller. As the silver cooled it increased in volume. Resulting in a 4.6 ounce pour.
The lion burnt his little nose on the sand but it can be polished out.
Meanwhile back on the farm.....the furnace was unplugged turned off and cooling....4 hours later with heavy gloves I was able to empty the crucible (silver holder).
Look a DRAGON tear.
Dragon tear from the other side.
Massive crucible round 5.5 troy ounces
The 3 silver AMIGOS.
I want to say once more how precious the encouragement and excitement was from these 2 ladies and
There assistance with creating this post was/is amazing.
Thank you Sara for your always encouragement.
Thank you Evie for your excitment, for checking to see if I was safe and that my house was still standing after all of this.
You ladies are the most precious part of this post to me!!!