Making Sheet Metal: crucible prep, making an ingot, annealing gold, etc.

In this video, I'll show you my methods for making sheet metal from scrap gold. I cover crucible seasoning, ingot mold prep, using butane vs. acetylene, annealing gold, making an ingot, which torch tips to use, rolling out sheet metal with a rolling mill.
I had some company while I glazed my crucible: Amber Romero who is the director of Chimera Art's Jewelry Studio, my friend, and an accomplished jeweler. Check out Amber's work on Instagram! Web: Instagram: amberbergqu.... She came by for the crucible glazing!
Take safety precautions! High heat and very, very hot molten metal can seriously injure you! Wear a leather apron, if you've got one, Safety, IR safety glasses, gloves (leather for fire and chemical for chemicals), tie back hair, no loose, dangly sleeves or jewelry, CLOSE-TOED SHOES.
I should have said IR protection in the form of safety glasses. The amount of UV output, with butane, propane, and acetylene, is minimal. The radiation to protect against is IR (infrared radiation). IR protection is necessary with general soldering, especially longer soldering stints like when making an ingot or with kiln use. Also, there are plenty of opportunities for debris, heat and other flying objects to damage our eyes so IR safety glasses cover all bases. Safety glasses - especially those with side protection will also protect your eyes when using pickle but, closed goggles are best with chemicals. The IR lens density should be 1.5 - 3 (as compared to the shade arc welders use: 8+). 1.5 - 3 is dark enough to protect your eyes and still see what you are doing. Here's a link to over-prescription IR Safety Glasses - they can also be worn without prescription glasses: amzn.to/2uAPuW0. And one more pair - these offer splash and impact protection goggles as well as IR protection: amzn.to/2mtch1N.
Please subscribe and like! Thanks for watching.
Things you might need:
IR protection safety glasses: amzn.to/2uAPuW0, and, amzn.to/2mtch1N
Handy Flux: Micro-Tools, www.micro-tools.com/products/...
The Whip, Crucible: www.micro-tools.com/products/...
Firescoff Amazon: amzn.to/2KUczwv
Cupronil
Ingot Mold: Pepe Tools: pepetools.com/products/adjust...
Little graphite ingot mold used in video: amzn.to/2KYRhOi
More graphite molds: amzn.to/2N5qHjE
Rosebud/multi-orifice tip for Smith Little Torch or similar for acetylene: amzn.to/2znwwal
For Propane: amzn.to/2ND23rQ
Smith Little Torch setup: amzn.to/2ztFwL6
Gentec little torch setup with regulators: www.micro-tools.com/products/...
Firebrick: amzn.to/2m6A6Mw
Graphite stir rod: amzn.to/2ztHg76
Rolling mills Pepe Tools: pepetools.com/products/110mm-...
Chimera Arts, Sebastopol, CA (A makerspace): www.chimeraarts.org/
NancyLTHamilton.com
Pinterest: / nancylthamilton
Facebook personal: / nancy.lt.hamilton
Facebook Biz: nancylthamil...
Instagram: / nancy.lt.hamilton

[@Dixiesilverminer]

We are big fans of your videos! You make beautiful art and you make it a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing!

[@allanthompson9695]

All fascinating stuff. Im looking forward to making loads of mistakes so I can learn lol. Great video Nancy, thanks.

[@IYQ2-22]

Nancy, Thank you for all of your wonderful video's, they are always fun and entertaining, I love watching you and can relate to you in so many ways... It always makes my day when I see another video that you have posted:-) Thanks for Sharing your life's adventures, Nancy! Cheers, Dessa

[@M00Nabove]

Lots of useful information. Thanks a lot for sharing!

[@danjayisland3370]

I love your intro. You crack me up!

[@henryramos617]

Love your videos you are a riot in a very good way. God bless you...

[@JIC7146]

Love the video's very helpful thank you keep up the good work!

[@MsJulianaPedroso]

Gooooorgeous video Nancy, thanks! I was wondering if I could pull of making a ingot from my scraps and this video is all I needed to help me decide!

[@juliel6254]

Very informative! Love watching your experiments in progress and the issues you run into and how to resolve them (or avoid them)! Thanks for sharing Nancy! I always look forward to the next video! : )

[@juliel6254]

I do have one question, why is is necessary to anneal the ingot right after you formed it? I would have thought that the very process of melting the metal in order to cast it would make it already annealed. Can you clarify? Thanks! ; )

[@NancyHamiltonJewelry]

Thanks! Somewhere over the past 7 years, I've come to realize that people need to know that mistakes will happen. Holding ourselves up to comparison with an idealistic vision of perfection, I feel, limits and depresses us. When problems occur, we feel like we have failed. That is far from the truth for, without experimentation and failure, we aren't pushing ourselves far enough or hard enough to grow. Thank you for understanding that!

[@rasjahjah]

Thank you for your wonderful personality and incredible videos. I bought a Goss B torch upon your reccos and someone else concurred. Bless you and the time and effort you have put forth to inform the universe

[@robertzingery8888]

Been looking for a vid on annealing gold. Thank you

[@chrisgiaquinto5064]

Very good video I live the down to earth tone. One question I just ordered first set of graphite molds and crucible. Should I flux the actual graphite crucible. Not the clay dish. Thank you in advance for any help

[@KyleTO7]

Thanks for the video! I was looking for a complete tutorial.

[@KyleTO7]

How come you use handy flux and not borax for glazing your crucible?

[@flyingcheff]

I'm guessing it's an easier way - to paint it on all over. That is what my casting instructor told me, but using borax too is helpful. Flux is basically borax, I've done this, it works very well. Also, beginners usually HAVE Handy Flux or something similar, not necessarily Borax. A shortcut!

[@TonyaDavidson]

Nancy, why do you anneal after the initial pour?

[@kellyharrison2540]

Hey Nancy...I love your videos! What a joy to watch and your humor is absolutely wonderful!! I have a couple of questions for you. Where can we send off our gold scrap to be refined, since I'm looking to make a sheet and worry about flaking, etc. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Second question. I just milled 18k bezel wire from casting grains recently. The trick was someone told me 2.5 mm square wire mills down to approx. 3.5 - 4mm high, .35 mm thick bezel wire. She knew this because of experience (The math is daunting to me). Are there any milling charts for ratios of square wire to bezel wire height and thickness? It was scary to do all the milling process and not really know what you'll end up with. Advice?

[@kathryncastanares525]

I am so glad you posted this. It had really helped me with learning how to make metal sheet. I usually work with silver, but recently acquired some other precious metals like some gold, platinum and pallatium. I was wondering if you had any experience with the white metals like platinum etc.? I could really use some help as I would love to make something special for my husband as the metals came from his father to me since he knew I do a little metal work. But I have always been a hobbiest with just a few "clients" here and there. Mostly just friends and family and a few others outside. And I don't know much about such precious metals and even have been having some trouble with gold. I had a tiny gram bundle of 24k wire, that I melted into a ball since the wire was 32g and I have a really hard time with thin gauges like that snapping and just being brittle after short term wear. ANYHOW, I also have some 18, 14 and 10k which when I melted down the 14 and 10k, the 14k has pink spots (copper I suppose) thru out the ring I cast and even after brass brushing you can still see it faintly. Also, the 10 sort of melted into separate balls with some being pretty and gold, with others looking like burnt copper that are almost all the way pink with small flecs of gold shimmering thru. I know I definitely over heated. But why did it separate like that? Is that the actual metals separating from the gold? Anyone know what I could/should do with it? And one last thing I promise. I also spilt some of my 14k gold onto some sheet metal that was protecting the work surface. It seemed to have fused to the surface of the sheet and I don't want to just toss it to the side. I'm so sorry for so many questions and long comment. I truly would be grateful for any help anyone could give me.

[@NancyHamiltonJewelry]

Lots of questions! It could be that you didn't mix your gold when melting it. Did you use a stir rod? Here's an article that might shed some more light on the subject: www.ganoksin.com/article/cracks-in-jewelry-manufacturing/. I have not worked with any white metal besides white gold (14K). I didn't enjoy the experience as the metal was very hard and my pickle didn't clean off the oxidation. Now I know to use a product like Firescoff to keep oxidation off the metal in the first place. I have never worked with platinum or palladium. Sometimes, the copper spots can just be from oxidation. Give it a bath in a 50/50 mixture of sodium bisulfate pickle (Sparex #2: www.micro-tools.com/products/sol-802-40?aff=10) and hydrogen peroxide (called: Super Pickle). Most of the time, that will remove copper spots. Don't leave the metal in the super pickle too long as it can create a matte finish on the metal (although, I like that finish and use super pickle to create it - especially on bronze!). The "burnt" looking parts are probably coated with firescale that need to be taken off with the pickle. I don't know what you meant about "splitting your 24k onto some sheet metal?" Did you solder with your metal on top of another metal? The only two things I can think, that happened, are 1. the metals fused together or 2. they somehow got soldered together. You can try heating them back up and pulling them apart when the metal gets hot enough although, there is a chance that you can crack the metal when it is hot. Is your gold clean before making ingots, i.e.: no solder joins, no other metals present like it being soldered/fused to another metal? If you melted down old pieces of jewelry, there could be other metals present that will contaminate the gold. If you are having a problem with making poor quality gold sheet, perhaps it is time to send it to a refiner? Have you tested the quality of the gold? Checked that it is not gold filled? The splitting could happen when you have two metals with wildly dissimilar melting temperatures - maybe something gold plated? It could also be that the metal wasn't stirred at the time of ingot creation. Here's another Ganoksin article to check out: www.ganoksin.com/article/causes-prevention-defects-wrought-alloys/ Hope this helps! N

[@kathryncastanares525]

Nancy Hamilton oh my, I knew I had a lot of questions, but didn't realize how bad I overloaded you with them. I am so sorry. But I am so grateful for the help and advice. I am definitely thinking of throwing in the towel on the gold and sending it to a professional refiner.lol however, I don't necessarily want to refine the gold that I wanted to make gold sheet with and your advice was really helpful. I honestly never thought to stir the metal. Tbh the videos I watched didn't show that step. But I only watched 2.lol haha. And I guess I made a typo and meant to say that the gold spilled, or dripped onto the sheet metal covering the bench and now I have a big ol blob/splat of gold bonded right on the middle of my bench.lol sort of pretty actually. I would love a table that had a bunch of thick splatters of gold .lol haha. anyhow, I think for now, I am just going to leave it and pretend it's supposed to be there. You know, abstract art... Expensive abstract accent.lol I am definitely going to be going to those links and check em out. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me. Forever a big fan and loyal subscriber. Thank you.

[@mrgorky777]

I love your amazing videos! Can you do one on saw-cutting oval jump rings? When I take the oval coils off the mandrel they torque and twist and are impossible for me to cut! What's the secret? Thanks. Where and how to "monetize" you? You give SO MUCH.

[@splintercelloo7]

This video is gold! Pun intended. Seriously I have so many questions for you. I am in the process of refining and have at least 2 oz 24k that I want to pour into a "perfect" ingot. I have been practicing pours with silver into graphite molds and they kept coming out with very rough textures and not shiny at all. The gold is powder ATM but I will melt tomorrow. Worst case I will make a large button but ideally I'd rather be able to pour an ingot. Can I just send it all to you? Lol no but really, do you have any advice? That roller looked like it gave the surface a very reflective finish without any loss to material. Im sure there is too much to cover in a short q&a but its still worth a shot. Any advise for an amateur would be greatly appreciated.

[@NataliaTymoshenko_Wtug]

БРАВО!

[@leilahankinson4498]

Hi Miss Nancy, I don't have a rolling mill and plan to pound out a small ingot (prob 1" long by 1/4' thick, hopping to arrive at 20G sheet) with just a hammer. what she and type of hammer would you rec? im looking at combo hammers with one round/flat end and the other a cross pein end but there are diff sizes and some are very small, like 3oz. would I need more weight than that?

[@flyingcheff]

slow cool or fast quench/ slow quench (after a bit of cooling? or both? I've heard different karats of gold have different cooling/quenching methods. What about the necessity of adding pure casting grain in the same karat? Perhaps the adding of pure casting grain in a certain ratio would help the cracking problem. Nancy, THANK YOU FOR MAKING THESE VIDEOS!! LOVE YOU - to the ends of the earth!

[@fhr13]

hi do you know the chemical to make gold very soft?

[@floralebaron2220]

What type of glasses do you need for eye protection ?

[@NancyHamiltonJewelry]

Your question encouraged me to do some more research on this and I found out that I was wrong when I said UV protection. I should have said IR protection in the form of safety glasses. The amount of UV output, with butane, propane, and acetylene, is minimal. The radiation to protect against is IR (infrared radiation). IR protection is necessary with general soldering, especially longer soldering stints like when making an ingot or with kiln use. Also, there are plenty of opportunities for debris, heat and other flying objects to damage our eyes so IR safety glasses cover all bases. Safety glasses - especially those with side protection will also protect your eyes when using pickle. The IR lens density should be 1.5 - 3 (as compared to those arc welders who need an 8+ shade). 1.5 - 3 is dark enough to protect your eyes and still see what you are doing. Here's a link to over-prescription IR Safety Glasses - they can also be worn without prescription glasses: amzn.to/2uAPuW0. And one more pair - these offer splash and impact protection as well as IR protection: amzn.to/2mtch1N.

[@haydenquakenbush8626]

Wouldn't map gas be good for melting silver? It burns hotter than butane. Not sure how clean it is, though. But you can get the yellow map gas canisters for the handheld torches that work with the blue butane cans.

[@hossamslime9354]

Hi how can.make this crucible

[@olegpetelevitch4443]

Love the crucible it is a fatty !

[@William.Shakespeare]

You know i had the exact same problem . i have the same mold , was working with 18k (24 and 14k mixed) , about 4.5 grams . i couldnt get the crucible hot enough to pour it into the mold (i have the same exact mold xd) so i ended up using one of the larger graphite cups and heating it in my old logburner stove outback , i used map gas entirely , when the cup glows red you are good to pour i only commented as i am new and began working with lower karats as i trash picked about 15 grams of gold circuitry from the 70s and it has a really high copper content so it doesnt heat and melt as well as the better quality in my white graphite cup. hope this helps someone , i dont know anyone in the community as i am just an old self taught hobbyist . retirement is a terrible thing. if anyone has comments good or bad that may help me i would be much obliged , either way i hope this may have helped someone , somehow. happy smelting.

[@ronsfi]

What do you mean by contaminated?

[@NancyHamiltonJewelry]

Usually it's an unwanted metal like steel or aluminum.

[@ronsfi]

@@NancyHamiltonJewelry Thanks Nancy Hamilton. I was wondering what I should be aware of. After many silver projects, I am attempting to mill 22k gold, but it's too hard to bend. What's the best way to anneal gold? I'm just not getting it.

[@hannahsansburn2372]

You stated you need to use firescoff because the gold has copper in it and therefore can het firestain but then ln the screen wrote that you DONT need to use the firescoff on copper itself...? Confused!