New Green Chaser’s Pitch Gets Rave Reviews

2 Comments

Last fall we began reading good things on the internet about a new chaser’s pitch being made by Debra Montgomery of Fresno, CA. We brought some in and gave it to Sessin Durgham to try out. Here's a snippet from Sessin’s review of the pitch:

The green pitch has a great creamy texture when hot. It’s easy to move around and manipulate with a torch and tweezers. Easy to clean up too. And it smells good. We should add it.

The following images show Debra Montgomery using the pitch to create a rose form in copper:

Based on Sessin’s review and the already positive buzz we were hearing, we added the new Medium Green Chaser's Pitch to the website a few months back.

Since the pitch has been among our products, we've learned that Sessin isn’t the only one with nice things to say. Here are a few more reviews of the pitch:

From Victoria Lansford:

I expected it to be a good product but didn’t expect it to replace my old pitch. Wow, was I surprised!

It arrived conveniently broken into small to medium sized chunks, which was a plus. Unlike most repousse artists, I don’t work on a level bowl but instead on a mound well above the bowl’s edge in order to hammer more easily on the sides of the relief, so putting a few chunks of the Chaser’s Pitch on top of my bowl was quick work. The pitch has a relatively low melting temperature though it does not smoke easily when liquid (nor was it as easy to burn myself when it was solid but soft).

Once cooled it is harder and more brittle than the red or green pitches that I’ve worked with, so I expected to have to hammer harder or heat more frequently in order to move the metal from the front. Not so. While it supports the metal extremely well, even when cool it moves with the metal, allowing me to continue hammering without my metal coming off before I’m ready to take it off. I spread cooking spray on the backs of my pieces to keep pitch from sticking. With this pitch there is much less oil/pitch residue on the back when I heat and lift off the pieces, and after annealing, the burnt residue wipes completely off with a towel, leaving no charred scum on the metal.

The biggest advantage I’ve found with this pitch is that it supports the metal so well, finer detail is much easier. I get pristine lines and fine plannishing marks with about half as much effort as before, and therefore in half as much time. This advantage alone is enough to make me a convert. Congratulations to Debra Montgomery on a wonderful product!

From Sarah Gascoigne

I am delighted with your product, from the presentation -easy to use small pieces of pitch, through to getting it into bowls and getting started. This whole process was very quick. Your pitch seems to enjoy being softened by heat gun or soft flame. AND such a lovely smell, that makes me feel great about my work!

My students and I have been trying it out in cold weather, the resin is crisp and hard but sufficient softness can be maintained with heat applications. It means the pieces often come away almost completely clean. Small traces of this pitch can be removed with mineral oil. We love it and recommend it to everyone.

From Jim Kelso

The pitch heats up nicely and retains the heat at a rate that is easily controlled, and it moves very nicely under the metal. Nice fragrance too. I’m looking forward to using it in a variety of projects. A very fine product.

Are you wondering how this new pitch would work for your applications? Have specific questions? Our Technical Support Team is always happy to discuss the nitty gritty of your process and the products we carry -- go to our website and click on "live chat" or call 800-545-6566 to find them.