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Appreciation post: The old guy at the scrap yard in Toledo told me to always pre-heat my crucible with a slow flame for 15 minutes, not a hot one.
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viola_allen7mo ago
My uncle ran a foundry in Dayton for forty years. He drilled that same slow pre-heat rule into my head. Going too fast can crack the crucible or cause a thermal shock explosion. That old guy in Toledo saved you a very dangerous and expensive mistake. Solid advice is timeless.
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lindag337mo ago
Remember that friend I told you about who tried to set up a home forge? He skipped the slow pre-heat because he was in a hurry to cast a simple ingot. He figured the crucible was new and could take it. Well, @viola_allen, you can guess what happened next. It didn't explode, but it cracked right down the side halfway through his melt. Molten metal went everywhere, ruined his furnace lining, and scared him half to death. He said the sound of that crack haunts him, and now he pre-heats slower than anyone. That old rule exists for a reason.
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marywilson6mo ago
Man, that story from @lindag33 is a real wake-up call. I mean, it's so easy to get impatient and skip steps, right? I've seen a buddy rush heating a thick piece of glass in his kiln and it just popped like a gunshot. Same idea, different material. That sudden crack sound really does stick with you. Makes you respect the process way more after.
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wesley_jones7mo ago
Read a story like that in an old metalworking magazine once.
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