Ceramic Crucibles Most metalcasters use a crucible made out of some kind of ferrous metal, either steel or cast iron. Because of their iron content, these crucibles are prone to oxidation when placed in a direct air blast like that of a furnace. They scale away to nothing, slowly contaminating your melts, and eventually failing all at once. The solution is to use a ceramic crucible, which does not oxidize or scale. These are available in the form of commercial silicon carbide or clay graphite crucibles, but they can be expensive.
My goal was to see if a backyard caster with access to a ceramics studio through a community center or night school could make his own ceramic crucible.
Ceramic CruciblesI decided to make my crucible on the potters wheel, partly because it would make it symmetrical and easy to pour, but mostly because I need the practice. I decided to use cone 5 stoneware clay. This means the clay is fired at 2100 degrees in an electric kiln for 7 hours, then allowed to cool overnight. If you try to duplicate this, it's important to use a high fire clay, or you risk your pot melting when you heat it in the furnace.
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