boro rod for fuming

[honey*bee]

I don't have any boro so is there any other way to fume, something else to hold the silver?

[Sue in Maine]

Don't laugh but a friend of mine successfully fumed using a silver glass! What the heck. Why not try it. Just heat the tip of the silver glass and let the fumes smoke up to your heated bead. Timing and temp's are critical for fuming so don't be surprised if this requires some dreaded ppp.

Sue

[GlassyEyedGirl]

Heya Kristina, I just got a s**t load of clear Boro! We really have to get together! lol You can make tools out of it too, plus it is super cheap. I will just give you some of mine.

[RSimmons]

Fused quartz is better for fuming than boro, it's not going to melt and absorb your metal or get soft in the heat and drop the metal bit. When fuming with a 'silver' glass you want to be sure that you are fuming with real silver and not lead.

Robert

[Mr. Smiley]

Colored boro like cobalt or turbo cobalt works best if you're gonna use boro. It's stiffer. Until you get some, I have no idea. Like Robert said, even boro sucks up the silver... I couldn't imagine using soft glass.

[artwhim]

Originally Posted by Sue in Maine

Don't laugh but a friend of mine successfully fumed using a silver glass! What the heck. Why not try it. Just heat the tip of the silver glass and let the fumes smoke up to your heated bead. Timing and temp's are critical for fuming so don't be surprised if this requires some dreaded ppp.

Sue

Yep, silver glass works. You don't need to add any silver, you actually fume with the silver that is in the glass. I still use silver on the top a quartz rod to fuse, but when in a pinch (ie the holder got pushed behind some stuff), I just grab a rod of silver glass and it does the trick. As you can imagine, if you fume for very long, the silver glass will start to soften too, but it really doesn't hurt anything. Boy that stuff must be loaded with silver.

[RSimmons]

Out of curiosity, which silver glass are you using to fume?

Robert

[honey*bee]

Originally Posted by RSimmons

Out of curiosity, which silver glass are you using to fume?

Robert

I'm curious too!?

[artwhim]

Originally Posted by RSimmons

Out of curiosity, which silver glass are you using to fume?

Robert

Whichever happened to be closest at hand on the table. LOL I would think most of the DH and R4 glasses would work. It's still important to position it correctly so the silver travels the flame and sticks to the bead. I originally got the idea to try it because often the silver glass fumes the surrounding glass. That this works, is a great reminder of how important good ventilation is when using silver glass.

[RSimmons]

I ask which glass because you'd probably want to know if the metal that you are fuming is the metal that you think it is.

R

[swamper]

I have gold fumed with a rod of Rubino Oro, so I'd say the silver glass rod would work too.

[RSimmons]

The gold colored surface on Rubino isn't gold.

R

[honey*bee]

That in mind, do you think the bead is just reducing slightly rather than fuming? I don't want to waste something as expensive as oro to experiment.

Originally Posted by RSimmons

The gold colored surface on Rubino isn't gold.

R

[rg9403]

Fuming with glass colored rods is a waste of money. Just buy a quartz rod from Winship and some pure silver wire.

[RSimmons]

Originally Posted by rg9403

Fuming with glass colored rods is a waste of money. Just buy a quartz rod from Winship and some pure silver wire.

I agree - use a known material for this sort of job.

Robert

[artwhim]

You know, I was just agreeing with Sue that the silver glass would work, not promoting it as the only way to fume. Nor did I say it was the fastest, or best way to fume, just throwing it out there that it does work. Nor am I putting an unknown product in the flame, it's glass, it goes there anyway. And since the silver glass is already sitting on my bench and it doesn't really "use up" or "damage" the silver glass in any way, I'm not wasting money. Silly me, I forgot there isn't room for new or different ideas in lampworking anymore.

[RSimmons]

The unknown product in the flame is the metal in the 'silver' glass. It may or may not really be silver (or gold). If it doesn't matter to you, then go for it. If it does matter then use a quartz rod and pure metal. There are always new ideas.

Robert

[Mr. Smiley]

I don't think anybody was saying it doesn't work or that it won't work. Robert was just trying to let people know it might not be pure silver or pure gold fume going on with this approach to fuming. I read it as him just trying to expand everybody's knowledge on this topic. He's a very smart guy and one of the nicest I've met.

[neagle]

Take a 2" x 2" square of wood. Drill 2 holes at opposite corners, the size that will fit a small quartz rod. Carefully melt fine silver onto one of the quartz rods until you have a small ball-let it cool or it will fall off. When it cools, put a 24k casting grain on the other rod and melt it and let cool. Voila! A fuming tool--courtesy of my first teacher, Kate Fowle-Meleney.

The rods are about 3" long, and you can hold the wooden bottom when you fume.