Showerthought: I was heating my punty rod wrong for like six months

I kept having my pieces crack off at the punty when I was working on small goblets. My teacher in the Tacoma studio finally watched me and said, 'You're putting that rod in the flame like it's a marshmallow.' Turns out I was only heating the very tip for maybe 10 seconds, not the whole first inch for a full 30 count. That extra heat soak made all the difference. Has anyone else had a simple timing thing mess up their transfers?

3 comments

3 Comments

seanh9124d ago

Honestly that 30 second heat soak is the real secret for a solid transfer.

oscar_hunt616d ago

Watch the old guys in the shop. They move slow. They let the heat do the work. I rushed everything at first, too. My punties would pop off like bottle rockets. Now I just count in my head, let that glass get lazy and warm all the way through. It's boring, but it works.

bailey.sam24d ago

My first year welding was just a long series of learning the hard way that heat needs time to travel. I'd get impatient and wonder why my work looked like a toddler did it. Turns out metal doesn't care how fast you want to go.