Melting Platinum in a Charcoal Block
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
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cbilton.creato...
Melting platinum on charcoal is something I have done loads of times with no issues whatsoever. Since starting this channel in 2019 I have received a few comments telling me it cant or shouldn't be done because of something or other. Meanwhile back in the real world I'm doing it again with no problems as usual.
Made a video this time to prove it.
/ @diamondmounterbites8861
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When I need to melt gold or silver, I use regular charcoal briquettes used for grilling food. Simply flatten one side with a file or carve out a small bowl and melt your metal in it. This will save your good charcoal block for soldering and keep it flat and square much longer. You can buy a whole bag of charcoal briquettes for the price of a good charcoal soldering block.
yeah thatll work. Iv got a bit of my previous charcoal block I use for the same
Thank you for making these quick tips style videos I've gained so much from watching them. I value them as much as your advanced 2+ hour videos. I always have time for a 10-15 minute video.
I buy old jewellery to sell to a refiner, since there can be over 100 items and it can take forever to test individual pieces I melt them all together in their carats, I started off melting in graphite crucibles but wasn't a big fan of them. I came across people melting in a large potato and I do that from now on I've done it over 100 times it works great. Just cut the bottom flat so it sits even, scoop a small amount out enough to get your gold in, for my case I stick to around 40g per melt, I can get about 4 to 6 melts per potato.
love it. Im gonna try that
I've heard about the potato method. Yet to try it though. I'm sure my son will love it. Thanks for the tip!
It's works well for what I need, I like the fact I can let it cool and pour it out when it is solid without worrying it will be stuck to a mould/crucible
Interesting video, thanks! Sounds like the platinum myth is one of those things that’s been handed down for so long nobody knows where it started, kind of like the one about pickle becoming contaminated and irreparably ruined if you let a bit of iron get in there. Possibly true theoretically, but not a problem in practice.
Charcoal is just wood chips and CaCO3 (the white stuff). They compress it and partially burn it.
The high temperature converts the CaCO3 to CaO and CO2.
The carbon compounds burn away and make CO2 and H2O gas.
There aren't any metals so, it won't alloy with you platinum.
They’re talking about platinum palladium on carbon which is a catalyst. It works… but the molten platinum melted pretty deep through the charcoal block. Great video though.
I have a huge platinum specimen but it has black crystals and a nugget that looks like some Northern Stag looking right at you, but I haven't worked with chemicals before and am not sure if it will eat the black crystals and leave the thick nugget that runs through the 16.4lb specimen and want to be able to have platinum for rings, maybe they were talking about PGM ore?? I don't know, all I know is that both the nugget and the ore is very rich in PGM's
I figured I'd weigh in on the debate about platinum contamination. The question as to whether the platinum is "contaminated" by the charcoal is not debatable. There have been loads of tests done since the 60s, with a massive amount of data backing up the fact that platinum will gobble up loads of free carbon. You get grain boundary cracking, micro-porosity, etc. Does this really effect jewelry making though? I suppose that depends on what you consider to be 'perfect'. I really don't think you'll have many issues working with it, even given those impurities, unless you look at it under like a 200x microscope. If you snap it though, you'll for sure see the messed up grain structure, but in a practical sense, it's not weakened enough to really hurt anything or make the piece rubbish. In the ingot you rolled out, you can clearly see degraining happening on the flat sides (not the edges), but that also could be that you rolled it a ton (you mentioned that you really beared down on it).
Where it really does matter, is in some of the other places plat is used (medical, electronics, etc, etc). Loads on, and functions of the plat in those cases require a particular purity, with no exceptions.
So tldr; carbon will most definitely contaminate the platinum, but after working with it for 15 years, only being careful about carbon for half that time, I've most definitely seen failure due to it, but on the whole, it seems to not matter too much.
I will say though, I've done a fair bit of old school forging with plat, and with those forces you will see failure.
Thats great info thank you for sharing
platinum carbodium is the reaction for a catalyst metal, not what you did there mate, some people dont deserve a education hehehehe, half truth you have been told I believe, cheers mate
Wow. I didn't think this was possible! Thanks!
Induction or plasma is more easier
@all
Sure, technically its possible. But chemically the carbon reacts with the platinum and it can get brittle over time. Also jewelers charcoal blocks usually contain sulphur as a bonding agent. All these destroy the Platinum, its just not worth it, when there’s other similar ways to melt Platinum without using those materials. I have had Platinum rings that I could start from scratch, cause the metal was just bleh to work with cause of my ignorant boss soldering it on charcoal.
Extra Info: I learned to put Platinum in the pickle after every time you heated it, cause the oxidations are really hard and destroy your tools.
This is all scientifically proven, and not a myth. Try reading professional literature, you might learn some things! (I love the series from UJS called “technisch wissenschaftliche Grundlagen des Goldschmieden”, but I’m not sure if they’re translated into English)
I know a lot of people are self taught jewelers, but all th background knowledge is just as important as knowing the workshop techniques.
I will make something with the platinum I melted to prove its ok
I have been a professional platinum jeweler for over forty years not self taught and it is common knowledge among my peers that charcoal is an enemy to platinum. Good Luck.
hello Chris, I worked for David Ashton at the Oxo Tower on the south Bank London for about 5 Years. I did along with my main job hand making heavy Hallmarked silver bracelets and chains .When david was busy I would help rolling platinum down for ring shanks and welding together and polishing them David melted the platinum in charcoal block using oxygen and acetylene regards Ken
Banana taped to a chopstick! Hi, love your channel !! Here's my comment: "You tell em'" !!! One of the BEST things you've taught me is to take it to the next level and USE MY LOUPE to check my work. I agree with you,there is so much (too much) "rustic" (née shitty workmanship) on much of what is "taught" on Jewelry making channels. I'm so over it, and so over being forced to comment in my head (who can look themselves in the mirror while trying to sell a bezel set anything with the bezel that's overlapped/barely joined and not cleaned/finished? Not me. I guess I've become a snob about doing good work. Thanks to Lexi Erickson ("Don't show me sloppy work and say its rustic...")! And you, Chris!
Great! Yes if a piece looks good under a 10x loop then its definitely well made
@@DiamondMounter and its a HIGH bar, lots of good work!
nice videos man and always really honest i always make sure to watch thanks bro !!!!
Why not just show best practice? How expensive is a platinum crucible?
Good
SHOW. Sou Brasileiro e faço o mesmo processo que você no carvão e ou com dois cadinhos sobrepostos, Após o derretimento faço modelagem no martelo [ forja ] antes de laminar. Você pretende fazer liga ou so trabalhar pura.
Obrigado.
I think you had the torch way to close, you should use it farther away to have better results, but anyways cool video thanks for sharing'
Actually for platinum he has the appropriate distance of the blue of the flame for melting, as long as the tip* of the blue of the high temp flame is nearly on the platinum metal, that works most efficiently.
@@EJguitar1 naa thats not true if you have it really close there's a black spot that appears and there's not much temperature there, the right spot is in the tip of the flame 🔥 if you are a jeweler you should know that 😉 there's many videos about that , and besides thats not a special torch tip for platinum
@@angelfranco5809 yo that’s exactly what I said…
@@angelfranco5809 also, I’m not sure what you are talking about when you mention a special torch for platinum, almost any jeweler in the country would and does use an oxy/propane or oxy/acet torch which looks he is here. If that is what you mean by “special” torch, well he’s got one. Yes, I am a jeweler. My comment here is because I didn’t want misinformation spread. Not every method I’ve seen Chris use is most efficient but in regards to his torch tip distance here, holding the tip of the blue of the flame (highest heat) for platinum is efficient for soldering platinum, and held there long enough, for melting platinum.
@@EJguitar1 cool cool' nice info just that I'm lookin to buy a new torch and I've been searching a lot' and supposedly I heard from the companies that you need a special tip for melting platinum and the thing about the distance is that I know all flame has the highest temperature point on its tip' that's why I mention that he is way too close , if you have any torch and you put the flame closer to a charcoal you can see the black spot im talking about' and thats an indication that you are too close' cheers
Hi Chris! Is there anywhere I can contact you outside of UA-cam for a more personal question? :)
Sure Im on instagram #CBiltonJewellery
Question, What's shineer? You said "no hard metals, Like this platinum shineer" I'm not sure it's even the right spelling.
I think it’s french for tube?
That's "chenier" 😊 and it might come from french