Murphy fire bucket?

[kokeshikitten]

So, I am very tentatively considering purchasing a murphy fire bucket.
Has anyone used these before?
Some questions...
What sort of glass gets used in one? I work with soft glass rods right now, but recognize that something else may work better for this application. Any ideas?
Also, I was wondering if small pieces can be annealed in a chili pepper kiln.

[RSimmons]

I'd check into Don McKinney's studio series glory hole. Working with one of these can get pretty involved, so I'd also recommend checking to all that goes with it before buying one.

Robert

[Tink]

I'm with Robert. I own one of Don's glory holes, and it's great! That said, you really have to have a good place to use it, which I lack at the moment. I use it for reheats when I'm working out of my crucible kiln.

[ArtcoInc]

The Murphy Fire Bucket is an attempt to bring furnace working into the home studio. It really is not an extension of lampworking per se. It is used with soft glass, but not the glass rods that you would use for lampworking. You would need a short blowpipe and/or punty to use the Fire Bucket.

I have a 30 minute DVD on the setup and use of the Murphy Fire Bucket (sorry, it's not on my web site yet) which sells for $30.

HTH

Malcolm

[RSimmons]

Malcomb makes a good point that I sort of glossed over. These furnaces really aren't an extension of lampworking and require a good studio site to use safely - especially from a ventilation perspective. I also remembered hearing recently that Don has/is doing something along the lines of retirement, though I don't know exactly what. He does make the best small glory hole, however, should you be branching out into furnace work/blowing.

Robert

Hey Tink - long time, no see.

[kokeshikitten]

Well, I am a lampworker wanting to branch out into blowing. I would like to make small paperweights, rondels, ornaments, etc.

[ArtcoInc]

Well, I am a lampworker wanting to branch out into blowing. I would like to make small paperweights, rondels, ornaments, etc.

All of these can be done with a large torch, But, if you want to try "furnacework" style blowing, then yes, I think that a gloryhole would be your next step.

IMHO, the Murphy Fire Bucket is, well, the Hot Head of gloryholes. It's cheap(-ish), and it works, but there are better (IMO) (but more expensive) ones out there.

Again, this DVD shows the setup and use of the Fire Bucket. The DVD looks like it was shot with a home camcorder, but it does gives you a feel of what the Fire Bucket can, and can't, do.

Malcolm

[mikeshelbo]

i got a murphy fire bucket used.... it is awesome and gets up to 2300 F in four minutes or so.... great for small vessels, ornaments, paperweights, murrine pulls and more! you can build one yourself out of a blower, an open pipe and some frax in a can! awesome.... but murphy did it right for sure...

shelbo

[kokeshikitten]

great! what kind of glass do you use with it? where can it be purchased?

[mikeshelbo]

great! what kind of glass do you use with it? where can it be purchased?


i use soft glass cane i pulled myself from the furnace that was full of spruce pine and it is compatible with 96 coe colors.... i havent tried anything boro in it because i have a cc burner for that.... using the kiln as a pick up oven works great and for small sessions of making stuff is more than sufficient to replace the need for a furnace... you must have some kind of clear cane laying around and a torch for making collars on your mini blowpipe and putting glass onto your punty rods....

unfortunately i dont think the company making murphy fire buckets makes them or is around anymore.... my best advice is to look for one used anyway as they were retailed back in the day at something like 480 bucks for the gloryhole and a few tools.... or even better option is to purchase glassnotes from glassnotes.com and build your own mini gloryhole!

i found mine in a classified ad in a local free paper....

shelbo

[ArtcoInc]

Yea, the maker has been out of stock for quite a while ...

http://www.fusionheadquarters.com/Pages/fire_bucket/firebucket.html

Good luck ...

Malcolm

[mikeshelbo]

thanks malcolm for the link..... i have never looked for an online catalog from them and had just been told by the guy i bought mine from that they werent being made anymore but my guess is if someone wants one of these things they can just call and ask them a few times and they will get them from where ever their source was.... or make em, whatever the case may be.....

all i have to say is that it only took a dozen ornaments outta mine to pay for it and now i have it forever.... great lil tool....

shelbo

[Emily]

A couple of the friends with whom I do Open Torch sessions have fire buckets. I've mostly seen them use the fire buckets to make murrini cane with Effetre rods for use in lampwork and some with sheet glass (sorry, don't know which) for later use in fusing. They put the murrini together in copper tubes, start heating them in a top-opening kiln, then pick them up (lose the tube) and get them really hot in the fire bucket to pull them out.

[laserglass]

i built my own murphy fire bucket or micro gloryhole, for less than $100. here is a link

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67463

i have it mounted in the back part of my lampworking area, under the ventilation hood. it is powered by a national 3a torch running off of natural gas and a 5 liter/minute oxygen concentrator. there is room in the bottom of the glory hole for a crucible that can hold 2 pounds of soft glass, so you can gather molten glass out of it as well as use it for reheats. the torch flame enters the micro gloryhole through a fused silica tube seen on the right hand side of the gloryhole. i built some rods into my lampworking bench which can be used as a micro offhand bench to roll the micro blowpipes and punties on as i shape the glass. i also use these rods as a wrist rest when i and not using the micro gloryhole.

during the summer, when it is too hot to operate my indoor glass studio, i operate another homemade gloryhole outdoors. again, the total cost of this system was less than $250, and it contains a 10 pound crucible inside for melting and gathering molten glass. here is a link

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60344

it operates off of a propane venturi burner i made from an old turkey cooker. the $250 cost includes the cost of the turkey cooker.


a small murphy fire bucket can be made out of a coffee can or clean paint can, for much less thant $100. you can power it with a hothead torch or a small gas/oxygen torch. i cannot imagine why the site linked to earlier in this thread, can justify selling it for over $580!!!!!

[kokeshikitten]

I contacted fusion headquaters and they have them in stock. They just forgot to take down the "out of stock" message...