ceramic triumph

[gfish]

I think I have found a good solution to the clay-adhesion problem: fiberglass reinforcement! I took a swatch of fiberglass left over from rocketry projects (12oz, if I remember correctly), cut it into 1cm squares, then teased out the individual fibers and mixed them into some fairly wet clay. Even just spreading a test section onto the blade made it obvious how much better this was. It spread like creamy peanut-butter, instead of the lumpy porridge I had got before. I let it dry overnight, and no cracks! So I held a propane torch on it until the clay was starting to glow. Still no cracks! We'll see how the heat-treating goes later in the week, but I have very high hopes for this combination. I'll have to swing by Fiberlay to get a container of precut fiber additives. Doing it by hand is slooooow.

Comments

[basal-surge.livejournal.com]

Probably not - strictly small volume, base metals - pewters and bronzes, mix of clay/dung/quartz sand, based on viking age casting crucibles for doing bronze jewellery work - I'm an experimental archeology freak. They'll stand more than 800 centigrade, more than once, but I'm not sure they would translate well to that volume of metal and weight.

Have you tried lining your steel crucible with a refractory and flux surfaced ceramic of some sort?

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I haven't. That's my backup plan.