Perlite, Silica Sand, and Fireclay

[waianvil]

check out auto garages they use silica sand for there sand blasting to clean car parts and harbor freight also have it

[blkbear]

Here in Ottawa you can get fireclay at Home Depot as well. Go to the section where they have firebrick and other accessories for home wood burning stoves. You might have to wait a few weeks until the "fall" stuff comes back on the shelves.
You could also look for refractory cement. A commercially (contractor) oriented brick supply business might have bags of it. I did find a 40lb bag here in Ottawa but only after going to one of these contractor supply outlets. And then it took the yard guys almost 15 minutes to find it. Not much demand for it here so it was buried in a back corner. Places like Home Depot won't or generally don't carry such specialty material.

Brian

[Work-In-Progress]

All sand is silica sand. sand is silicon dioxide, what you want to look out for is that yes, play sand is silica sand but only the light brown sand colored sand, the white type is crushed limestone. I think its limestone, but bottom line is the white stuff isn't silica sand and is worthless in a refractory.

[ThomasPowers]

All sand is NOT silica sand; you can get coral based sands, feldspar based sands, magnitite based sands. Sand is more of a size indicator than a material indicator at least according to my Geology Profs when I got my BS degree in Geology!

[Work-In-Progress]

O.o, well rub that in my face. DON'T LISTEN TO THE N00B! but none the less, silica sand is no special thing, you find it anywere.

[Strine]

And the worst place to find it is in your budgie smugglers. By the cringe, I do hate the beach.

[Glenn]

Work-In-Progress
"Well rub that in my face. DON'T LISTEN TO THE N00B!"

IForgeIron is a family forum and will not tolerate personal attacks toward anyone. Noob or not, your posts are read and the information is given due consideration.

At this point in the discussion, please post any references to back up your side of the discussion, "All sand is silica sand. sand is silicon dioxide". This way we can go to the reference and read it. This is the reason Thomas posted he has a BS degree in Geology, as a reference for his statement.

I would be very interested in the "right or proper" sand for use as a flux. It has been suggested to use a mud dabbers next as flux. As soon as the summer is over, I plan to collect some of the nests and try forge welding with the material just to see if and how it works.

A quick google search turned up silica sand, black sand, green sand, calcareous sand, and industrial sand. None were mentioned for forge welding. Now I need help figuring out which sand to use, and if it is better or as good as borax and other fluxes for forge welding.

[gerald]

Some folks use FLINT SILICA which can be bought "dirt cheap" at pottery supply places. I'm not sure whether this could be called "sand" from a technical standpoint. If you try it, be sure to buy the coarsest grit you can find as the finer grits can become airborne and inhaled. The last I bought was 200 screen. I haven't been able to make it work as well as plain old Borax, though. The feller who turned me on to it, Bob Patrick, says to sling it into the fire as opposed to putting it on the weld area as you do with Borax.

[Candidquality]

Also recall reading somewhere that white sandy beaches are quartz sand and it seems to work fairly well. Next time I run into some i'll let you know how it works.

[Work-In-Progress]

Originally Posted by Glenn

Work-In-Progress
"Well rub that in my face. DON'T LISTEN TO THE N00B!"

IForgeIron is a family forum and will not tolerate personal attacks toward anyone. Noob or not, your posts are read and the information is given due consideration.

I wasn't trying to be rude or attack anyone, I ment it in a playful mannor, sorry for the confusion.
________________________

Glenn: Mud dabbers are horrible things, one stung my aunt and her leg swelled and said it was a terrable pain, also one dropped my dad. Besides that fact, how would a nest make a good flux? Does it have something to do what the mud dabber did to make the nest?