[Jewelry making - Article 00929] - [Orchid] Bench Volcanos

[Renate Sommer]

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    Dear Orchideans A rather unnerving thing happened to me today and I
    wonder if a similar thing has ever happened to anyone else and
    whether any one knows why this may have occurred. 

    To cut a long story as short as possible, I was in the act of
    pouring molten silver into an ingot mold (as I have done countless
    times in the past) when there was a sudden and loud bang, the air
    above me was full of glowing fragments of molten silver, the
    crucible was flying through the air having been blown off it's
    handle and my torch was snuffed out. 

    Fortunately, apart from a few holes here and there, in bench, chair
    and floor, and a little singed hair (I leapt about brushing myself
    off) no major damage ensued. The ingot was basically a ragged U
    shape. 

    Now I've done lousy pours before with holes left in the bottom so I
    don't think it could have been a trapped air bubble popping. I've
    been working with titanium a fair bit lately and have heard that
    titanium dust is explosive, though in this case I only used largish
    pieces of scrap silver for melting and in any case, were it
    titanium, that would surely have done it's mischief during the melt. 

    Any suggestions as to why this may have happened would be greatly
    appreciated as it was a rather scary event. 

Thanks for any possible answer,
Renate in Adelaide, Australia

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