Small stones, UGH..

[Josh Bernbaum]

Originally Posted by Chris Lowry

Still getting stones? Change the pot yet?

Sorry haven't been updating the status of this all that quickly. I'm far from a production shop, so I don't (or at least try not to) melt all that often. Maybe every two weeks on average. One of the pros to an electric vs. gas is that I feel like glass quality doesn't deteriorate as quickly as does sitting in a gas furnace. On the last melt, which I did last Monday, it was the first time since I started noticing the tiny stones that I did not scrape as much glass as I could out of the bottom/heel of the pot before refilling. So I just charged on top of about a 1/8 full pot, and didn't stir with potato as I habitually do normally (to try to avoid bringing up any offending material which might have still been at very bottom). So far, in the two days taking gathers last week, I'm seeing fairly clean glass. Did notice some small seeds randomly positioned in the larger gathers, which perhaps would have not been there after stirring. Maybe.. But I can live with small bubs, they don't bother me as much as solid material floating in the melt. Pot's about half full now, so I'll be keeping an eye out for what this week's gathers from the lower half show.

To answer your other question, I don't want to change this relatively new pot unless glass quality becomes unbearable. All these materials we use are just too expensive these days. I used to habitually change pots every summer shutdown, but I kept my last pot going for two years which was much more affordable of a decision (Sorry Pete). Again, not being a production shop, I still think I had less than 70 melts total on that pot at the end of the two years. And I'm only melting SP, so no borax or fluorine in there. Some people might have kept that pot going for a third year, but I wouldn't want to push my luck, and there was some noteworthy pitting on the inner face of crucible. But glass quality was still decent by the end. Added to wife's collection of outdoor planters.

[Pete VanderLaan]

We see a lot of people trying to stretch their pot life beyond what the original performance intentions were. They then seem confused by the changing quality of the glass. To me, that's not rocket science. If they blame the quality of the pot, I do become irritable.

The other thing to keep in mind is that stones do dissolve.