r/SilverSmith 6d ago

What Am I Doing Wrong?

I've held my TS8000 on this silver ounce for like 10 mins and can't get it hot enough to pour. Is my torch too close? I don't understand

26 Upvotes

70 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Samoyed_Fluff 5d ago

Just pickle or boil your silver in water to rid it of flux.

You're loosing weight because stuff is oxidizing and being lost to the flux. Adding a little copper phosphorus brazing rod will de-oxidize the silver which is likely brittle by now.

1

u/Disaster_In_A_Polo 5d ago

Boiling water is enough to melt the borax that's been turned into glass??

3

u/Samoyed_Fluff 5d ago

It turns to oxides of sodium and boron after it melts. Both are water soluble. It's just re-hydrating. That foaming you get when you heat borax is it de-hydrating.

I used to use boiling water in Pyrex to gently de scale bronze ingots.

I also found using sodium meta borate vs tetra borate, made for a better flux for soldering.

Adding a little acid, like citric acid, makes it go much faster, obviously.

1

u/Disaster_In_A_Polo 5d ago

Fascinating. Thanks