Itis an Art Supply store and it is sold with a pitch bowl so I assume it is made for chasing. I was more iterested in comparison of black verse red verse ??? pros and cons if one type is better than.

Tim

metalcraft by moose

I am definately not a fan of the black pitch that is commonly sold for repousse and chasing. I highly recommend the pitch from Northwest Pitchworks. The difference is like night and day.

Spend your money wisely and on what will work. Select a pitch bowl that is large enough to handle the size of work you want to do. I suggest bowls that are full hemispheres since they allow you to tilt them at a greater angle to be able to access recessed areas on the side of your work.

Good luck,
Fred

Fred Zweig
Metalsmith

I agree with Fred that Northwest pitch is a superior product and far less noxious to work with. Red pitch is popular although I have never worked with and in no way do I pretend to be an expert in this area- only an addict to repousse.

I agree with Nathan and Fred that the Northwest pitch is a better choice than the black stuff. I have not used the red pitch and so can not comment on it. marilyn

Tim I like the Red German pitch much more, the black does not hold your work as well and tends to be messy. Now I haven't tried the green from the northwest but someday soon.
"GRIZZ"

Tim,
If you get over on my side of town I have both the black and the green from Northwest. Sorry no red.
Black is messy and sticky. But easier to use if you want to pour.
Green is easy to use and can push around to build up a mound.
Pitch bowl buy some frying pans from HF or find an old cast bowl. I think the bowl they sell with the pitch is too small.

warren
http://www.flickr.com/photos/metal_recipes/

I have the 8 inch bowl that came in a kit with red german pitch from Otto frie. I like the red pitch. It has been easy to use but I'm a newbie so have nothing to compare it too. Probably gonna try Northwest pitchworks next. I agree the 8 inch bowl seems small. I have an old 14 inch cast iron skillet I'm gonna try. I can see where it will not be as convenient as a round bottom bowl because you can't rotate and tilt as much.I plan on putting the skillet on a big sand bag to give me some titing capability. I saw 13 inch cast iron wok in a catalouge the other day and wondered about buying an using it instead because it had a round bottom....only about $40 bucks.

Walker

Hey one more thing. How do I decide how much pitch I need for that 14 inch skillet? Pitch is sold by the pound....how do I estimate how many pounds I need....for about 2 inches deep?

Walker

Hey- the guy at Northwest told me if I remember right- that a 3in cube of pitch equals 2 pounds. That should help figure how much you'll need. My pitch bed is 24x28 and 1 1/4 deep. It took 40 pounds to fill it.

Wow.....40 pounds....? $$$$!!! Did you make the pan? Just looked on NorthWest Pitch Works's website and they state that a 1/2 gallon milk jug is about 6 1/2 pounds.

I have an old tank that is about 24 inch in diameter that I've been thinking about cutting one of the ends off and using that as a pitch pot. It would give me a rounded bottom to make it easier for positioning. But that's down the road cause it's going to take a lot of pitch to fill it. Gonna go the skillet route first because I can fill it with pitch cheaper and get going on pieces larger than my 8 inch bowl will allow sooner.

Walker

Hey guys!

Pitch is expensive when you get to using forty pounds! There's no reason to do that, unless you need to fill a vessel for repousse or chasing. For most stuff you're working in your pitch bowl, you're only using the top one or two inches, and the rest is just filler. So, use filler under it, instead of pitch. Pour the bottom of your pitch bowl, frypan, wok or six-foot satellite dish full of plaster of Paris, leaving room for two inches of pitch. Allow it to set well, then top off with your favorite pitch at a big savings.

After you see how much money you save on pitch, send me half for the advice. (grin)

Another notion that you might find handy: If you want to use something like a frypan to get more working area, but would still like to have the ability to conveniently tip it to steep angles, use an aluminum or stainless frypan rather than cast iron. Before you fill it with your favorite pitch, drill a couple of holes in the center so you can bolt it to one of those ball-and-socket camera tripod joints. Now you can get all the tilt you want and still have it stable.

Hope this helps.

Hey Rick- I agree that the expense is very prohibitive and other ways should be sought. In case you missed it- my bed is 24"x28" and 1 1/4" deep. So I really didn't have any room for filler. Besides, the sweet part was that the pitch was a birthday gift. By the by, thought the rotisserie was cool.

I recently created this list for a workshop I just taught.

Black Pitch $18.40/lb + shipping
Asphaltum based
Burns hot
Messy to work with

Red Pitch $14.77/lb + shipping
(German Pitch)
Resin based
Works well

Green Pitch $11.00/lb shipping included
(Northwest Pitchworks)
Resin based
Works well
Available in three different consistencies
Soft, Medium, Hard

Hope this helps.

Fred

Fred Zweig
Metalsmith

If you cannot use them, I'd suggest that you call around to some other schools and see if you can find one that would like to have them. You could certainly sell them on Ebay, but why not pass them along to a worthy user at the same cost you paid for them? Try a local community college jewelry program, or a university.

If none of those appeal to you, I am sure there are plenty of our members here who would dearly love to have that equipment. The tough part would be deciding which one, thus I suggest a school where all can benefit.