I need help with gold fuming

dlando1 · #1 2012-12-06, 3:04pm

I have been fuming gold for a while. I have a reoccurring problem with the gold bead rolling off my quartz rod and splattering in front of my torch. Does anyone have a sure fire way of keeping the gold on the rod and off my table.
This stuff is too expensive to loose.

istandalone24/7 · #2 2012-12-06, 3:18pm

i use a rod of cobalt (stiffer then clear) and make a little divot in the end of the rod. it still dances around a bit (the gold) but so long as i'm paying attention i keep the gold topside.

silver is tough to get to stick to quartz, gold even more so.

Alaska · #3 2012-12-06, 3:21pm

Same issue with small pieces of silver. Hard to keep on the rod.

What works on this end for gold is to use leaf. Wet the marver and add the leaf. Used a 5 mm boro clear rod. Or whatever size you have on hand. Heat and pick up the needed amount of gold. A big blob can form on the end and when it breaks off add to another rod.

Did not try quartz as do not have any available for use.

Onekura · #4 2012-12-06, 5:05pm

you are using too much gold - just take a tiny little and it won't roll off as easy. It happens to me only when I use too much . . . same with the silver - -you don't need a lot.

and I am not using quartz rod, just ordinary boro 8mm - perfect!

and . . . wonderful pendants - love them

firefreak · #5 2012-12-07, 6:52am

I heated the snot out of my quartz rod till I could put a little divot close to the end. took about 15 min right at the end of the cones. You won't see it begin to move, but after a few min it will get the surface soft enough to move just a little.( it will be glowing like crazy, and the end you are holding will feel like heat is transferring down the rod) You get about 2 seconds out of the flame to push the divot. Took me 4 tries. Then I put a chunk of gold in said divot about the size of the ball in an ink pen. Never lose any gold now. But I do have a nice splattering on my torch base from early attempts.

Mary K · #6 2012-12-08, 9:51pm

Why doesn't someone sell a quartz rod with the divot already there?
I would love to learn how to fume, and would buy one.

28676bhe · #7 2012-12-08, 11:05pm

Ditto, Mary K! Put me on the list to buy one, please!

Anyone want to make a few to sell?

Barbara

istandalone24/7 · #8 2012-12-09, 3:56am

i think if your torch isn't hot enough to make a divot in the quartz, then it's not hot enough to get the quartz rod hot enough to pick up the fuming metal.

menty666 · #9 2012-12-09, 8:30am

^ yup

Mary K · #10 2012-12-09, 9:04pm

I have a Gtt Scorpion with 2 Sequal Regalias, I think I can pretty
much max out my torch. Is this torch hot enough? I really don't know anything about
fuming, and have been a little leary of it, I have always read stuff about the fumes
and holding your breath. I have really great ventilation in my studio, but I still
wonder sometimes how much some risks are worth. I know nothing about fuming.

Alaska · #11 2012-12-09, 11:19pm

A Scorpion will work fine. On this end only use the center fire for gold fuming.

cheng076 · #12 2012-12-10, 12:40pm

I made a few quartz fuming rods a while back and used my welding torch to get it hot enough to work it. Any premix should get hot enough.
PJH

Cosmo · #13 2012-12-10, 2:37pm

Why use quartz? I've never heard of anything but problems doing it. A rod of cobalt works just fine.

Cornbread · #14 2012-12-10, 3:59pm

I'm really wanting to get in to fuming more but always have such varying results. can we see pictures of your fuming rods? maybe put a penny next to it for scales, bc sometimes I feel like i have too much silver and sometimes I'm wondering if my torch is set wrong. if I could make the amount of metal correct, I can adjust my torch accordingly.

Onekura · #15 2012-12-10, 7:17pm

Thats what my fuming rods look like after doing about 50 pendants each. Those are used up. The red ones were the gold and the whitish ones silver.
The rods are regular 8mm Simax. And, yes - they do droop a little, but I keep the metals at the front - sometimes holding the rod up side down. The gold doesn't come off unless I use too much. As for the ammount of gold used, I cut off the smallest bit I can (with nail clipper) and that will last a long time. For silver I cut off about 2mm x 1mm (silver is cheap) and it will spit a little for the first 2-3 times used.
The flame chemistry seems to be the biggest problem. Gold is easy - just crank up the oxy, but the silver needs a reducing flame and the right ammount of fuming to get the nice electric blues - that's what I am after. Hope this helps

And I don't bother with Quartz - ditto to Cosmo's advice

Onekura · #16 2012-12-10, 11:59pm

Here I prepared 2 new fuming rods (gold and silver). I used 8mm Simax clear. Those are not used yet.

Cornbread · #17 2012-12-11, 6:27am

wow! thanks! i was using waayyy too much silver and gold...I'll get nail clippers to cut down my metals even smaller. thanks!!

istandalone24/7 · #18 2012-12-11, 7:05am

after you snip a small piece off, beat that piece with a hammer to flatten it, then snip that in half.
less is more with fuming.

deb tarry · #19 2012-12-11, 9:25am

good idea about snipping , then pounding then snipping again.

Onekura · #20 2012-12-12, 12:04am

my gold bar is so thin - It needs no pounding . . .

mightymike · #21 2012-12-12, 12:20pm

I like my quartz fuming rods when i started fuming i used the cobalt but found that i would lose silver up into the glass maybe and spend extra time trying to push back the glass to get the silver back out of the middle of the gather of cobalt and never could. maybe i was doing something wrong or leaving the end in the flame too long i don't know but the quartz fuming rods fixed the problem. so i got a quartz rod and get to use every bit of silver or gold i put on it. the only thing i found is you do need to hold it level for a little longer after you are done fuming to cool so the metal get solid again.

if you decide to make your own know that shade 5 are not dark enough it get super bright before its hot enough to shape. i didn't know that and even with my shade 5 i saw spots for two days after. and found out that people that work quartz use shade 8 if i were to do it again i would put one of those clip on 3 over my 5's. but you don't get it that hot when your fuming so it not a problem now.

here how one looked new

and after 9 month and many usages silver saw just reloaded and gold is about half a load but still 10 to 15 pendents depending on how heavy i put it on. and just so you know the picture make it look like there more gold then there is so i add a second pic and it still looks like more but as the other post say the smaller you can get the better it goes a long way

octarockstudio · #22 2013-01-19, 10:28pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by firefreak

First of all, do not try this without good ventilation!! If you dont have a hood and at least 350 cfm fan (or more) with make up air, dont even think about fuming.This will work with all torches from a minor up. ( I have never tried it on a one gas torch. Silver might work, but gold has to have a lot of heat to fume)

Fuming Silver and gold, The basics

First start with pure metals (.999 if possible) I use 1 oz silver ingot from jewelry store. For gold, I found a piece 8 inch's long of 24 karat fine chain at same jeweler.( make sure it's 24 karat. (gold needs to be as pure as possible to fume well)

Prepare a 12 to 14 inch 6-8 mm rod by warming up very end and putting a small dent in top side. ( I use quartz, but boro will work)

Take silver with tweezers, heat up 1/4 inch of ingot. Using glass shears, cut a 2-3 mm strip from ingot. Set aside to cool. Once cool, cut a piece off strip about the size of one half of a BB. (about 2 x 2 mm). Silver strip should cut OK when cool.

For gold, I cut 3-5 links off chain.(very fine chain)

Now, pick up the rod you prepared, using tweezers, put the BB of silver (links of gold) into the dent you made on the rod. Heat up end of rod till till metal melt into small ball. This should hold metal to rod.

Let's fume! Warm piece to be fumed till it has slight glow. Keep turning in last third of flame.
Silver: Place end of rod with silver on top near the end of the "candle" of the flame. When it warms up to the point that it begins to sparkle, you are fuming! Keep piece turning, and "bounce" the end of the rod in and out of the flame. Sliver fumes at a med temp, so you have to keep cooling and reheating fairly fast to keep the process going. You will see the honey yellow color start to appear on you piece. The longer you fume, the darker the color will become, until it turns white. Once you like the color, bring the piece into the working area of the flame, and melt in the fume. Some silver will burn back off, thats normal. you will get the hang of how much to put on for the desired end result. Or you can encase it right away. ( makes a cool effect)

Gold: takes a lot more heat to fume! using a forceful tight flame, begin as with the silver. Once piece is warm, bring the gold into the very tip of a candle (should just touch the end of cone)Leave it there. When The gold starts to "dance" around on the rod you should see color start to show on your piece. (great purple!) the gold has to stay in the cone to fume. ( no bounce like with silver) Again, the longer you fume the darker and richer the color. You can go all the way to gold plate. Melt in as before. Gold does not burn off like silver, so WYSIWYG.

For fun, put dots of clear close(2-3 mm apart) together all over the piece. melt in really well. When you melt it into a ball, it gives a neat honeycomb effect.

fuming help

castaway · #23 2013-01-20, 12:35am

Just to throw another ingredient into the pot, I use 24 carat gold leaf, I put a bit on the torch marvel, warm a simax 6mm rod in the flame and just roll the gold onto the end of the rod, a quick flash in the flame melts the gold into droplets, when you fume none of the gold falls off and you can get a very nice even gold fume, I do the same with silver a piece of foil rolled onto a rod, you really don't need quartz and using gold casting granules you always seem to have that one that drops off and gold plates the bench, I never have that with the gold leaf method, just my way of doing things but it might help someone.
B

LarryC · #24 2013-01-20, 9:25am

Quote:

Originally Posted by castaway

Just to throw another ingredient into the pot, I use 24 carat gold leaf, I put a bit on the torch marvel, warm a simax 6mm rod in the flame and just roll the gold onto the end of the rod, a quick flash in the flame melts the gold into droplets, when you fume none of the gold falls off and you can get a very nice even gold fume, I do the same with silver a piece of foil rolled onto a rod, you really don't need quartz and using gold casting granules you always seem to have that one that drops off and gold plates the bench, I never have that with the gold leaf method, just my way of doing things but it might help someone.
B

Thats how I do it. Works great and a book of leaf last forever.

menty666 · #25 2013-01-21, 10:09am

I accidentally leafed part of my marver once. Darn stuff just doesn't want to come off there. I suppose I could probably vaporize it off with the torch, but it's not that big of a deal.

Just saying, it can happen

Bunyip · #26 2013-01-22, 6:35am

Quote:

Originally Posted by menty666

I accidentally leafed part of my marver once. Darn stuff just doesn't want to come off there.

I use an old marble mold to hold the crumpled pieces of leaf... Same deal. LOL

saraconklin · #27 2013-03-28, 10:21am

just received a huge-gantic box from ABR, probably 12" x 12" full of popcorn and 2, read it, 2 quartz rods inside. I rue the day i didn't say, "please cut these up", probably could have gotten them in a set rate postage box instead of over $12 in postage and handling, about the cost of the rods! stupid alert.

LarryC · #28 2013-03-28, 11:54am

Quote:

Originally Posted by saraconklin

just received a huge-gantic box from ABR, probably 12" x 12" full of popcorn and 2, read it, 2 quartz rods inside. I rue the day i didn't say, "please cut these up", probably could have gotten them in a set rate postage box instead of over $12 in postage and handling, about the cost of the rods! stupid alert.

And had they done that and the rods had broken you no doubt would have been all over them for not packaging them sufficiently. No win.

28676bhe · #29 2013-03-28, 1:23pm

I got mine from ABR today, and it's perfect. It's about 7 inches long and I had the option of choosing a divet (spoon) on the end.

Haven't tried it yet, but it's exactly what I ordered and wanted.

Postage for everything has gone wild, so I try to make a half way decent purchase each time to offset it.

Correction! I purchased from Arrow Springs, NOT ABR. Apologies!

saraconklin · #30 2013-03-28, 1:33pm

i wish i had researched this more before i bought and yes, if they were broken and i wanted them whole, i would be mad about that. funny that this time smaller broken pieces would have been ok. live and learn, live and learn.................