"Should I get a graphite crucible or one of those ceramic dishes?" We get asked this a lot, usually by someone who's saved up a bag of silver offcuts and wants to turn them into something useful. Both will melt your metal. The difference is in how you heat it, how much you're melting, and how you like to work at the bench.
Here's how we'd explain it if you rang the shop.
The quick answer
- Melting small amounts with a hand torch? A ceramic melting dish is usually the easier place to start.
- Melting larger batches, or using a small furnace? A graphite crucible is the one to look at.
- Doing a bit of both? Plenty of people end up with one of each.
Ceramic melting dishes: made for the torch
A ceramic dish is shallow and open, a bit like a small bowl with a spout. That open shape matters. When you're melting with a torch, the flame needs to reach the metal directly, and a shallow dish lets you play the flame right over your scrap until it pools.
Our ceramic dishes are clay-bonded fused silica, rated up to 1371°C, which is plenty for torch melting gold, silver, copper and brass at the bench. They come in three sizes, and the capacities are roughly:
- 2" dish: about 100 g
- 3" dish: about 250 g
- 4" dish: about 550 g
You hold the dish with a whip tong handle, which springs shut to grip it and opens when you squeeze. It gives you good control when you tip and pour into an ingot mould. If you're starting from scratch, the 3" ceramic crucible and whip tongs set is a sensible middle size for most hobby melts.
Graphite crucibles: deeper, for bigger melts
A graphite crucible is a deeper, cup-shaped pot. Graphite heats quickly and evenly, copes well with thermal shock, and tends to give a clean pour with less metal clinging to the sides. That's why it's a favourite for melting larger quantities, recovering scrap and making ingots.
Because it's deep rather than open, a graphite crucible really comes into its own in a small melting furnace, where the heat surrounds the whole pot. You can use one with a torch too, but you'll be heating the crucible and letting it pass heat to the metal, rather than hitting the metal directly as you would in an open dish.
We stock graphite crucibles in 1 kg and 2 kg sizes. The 1 kg graphite crucible measures 5.5 cm outside, 3.5 cm inside and 9 cm tall, so it's compact but deep.
Handling: tongs matter as much as the pot
This is the bit people forget. A ceramic dish sits in a whip handle. A graphite crucible needs proper crucible tongs or a crucible handle long enough to keep your hands well back from the heat. That's why we sell the graphite crucibles both on their own and as sets with 12" brass tongs, 14" tongs or a 16" crucible handle. If you don't already own something that grips a round pot securely, buy the set.
Looking after each type
Ceramic dishes: warm a new dish gently, then sprinkle borax inside while it's hot so it melts into a glassy glaze. This helps the metal flow and makes the dish last much longer. Re-glaze when it starts to look dry or crusty.
Graphite crucibles: warm a new crucible gently before the first full melt to drive off any moisture. Store it somewhere dry and don't drop it on a hard floor, as graphite can crack. A little borax flux in the melt helps keep things clean.
Both: keep one crucible per metal. If you melt brass in a dish and then use it for silver, you risk contaminating your silver. A strip of masking tape with "Ag" or "Cu" written on the handle saves a lot of bother.
Common mistakes we see
- Going too small. If your scrap only just fits, it'll be awkward to melt and pour. Leave yourself some room.
- Skipping the preheat. Hitting a cold, new crucible with full heat is asking for trouble.
- Pouring into a cold, damp mould. Warm your ingot mould first. Moisture and molten metal don't mix.
- No proper surface. Work on a fireproof surface, in a well-ventilated space, with heat-resistant gloves and eye protection on.
So which should you buy?
If you're a hobby jeweller melting silver offcuts with a torch, start with a ceramic dish and whip handle. It's simple, forgiving and you can see exactly what the metal is doing. If you're melting bigger batches, working with a furnace, or pouring larger ingots, go for graphite and pair it with the right tongs.
You can see both types, along with ingot moulds, flask tongs and pickling tongs, in our casting, melting and soldering collection. And if you're still not sure which suits your setup, just get in touch and tell us what you're melting and how. We're happy to help you pick.