MonkeyForge

Frosty, It took for ever to dry, first test tile I tried to force dry but that made it crack. I think temperature was to high though. I expect less cracking when force drying at temperatures below boiling point of water. I get impatient and rush sometimes. I did manage to break a piece off the tile but it took quite some force. From what I know about sintering I may need to soak the next tile a bit longer for a more complete bond.

I made a small test tile with about 5% Bentone (refined bentonite alternative to Veegum) and 95% Zirconium silicate (3cm x 3cm x 0.5 cm). After drying out the water I put it in the forge at a high yellow for about 20 minutes and let cool with the forge. Cold it is very hard to break or even scratch. I have yet to use it as an actual liner but I imaging it will sinter in a similar way. I'll keep you guys posted.

I can agree on that. Though even the non local ones can be super helpful:)

Hard Refractory concrete should have specified that. At least that is what he states in the build video. (2 inches of wool and from what it looks like 1 or 2 inches of hard refractory)I tried to find a better picture but could not. Personally I like the idea of a removable top, would make it possible to adjust the volume as well. Reminds me of this thread:

I believe in this design the floor is a tabletop consisting of ccleramic wool and concrete in top of that. The body shown in the picture is placed in the tabletop as a hood with burners inside. Found a picture.

Thomas, i am aware of the difference in scale, thank you. I acknowledge that it will be about impossible to list all the local suppliers for each region. But the "where do I get this stuff" question comes up quite often so I thought a listing of sine sort would make sense. Starting out I struggled with finding parts but I have a pretty decent list of suppliers, both stores and online now. I will probably share this somewhere for the benefit of others.

Maybe we could we could make a subsection on this forum with local suppliers per region? not all areas will have a club, not every one will be in a club if there is one. I was thinking about that. Only risk is it getting outdated.

Wayne coe who is a member here sells most of what you need in small quantities. Kind of depends where you are located if that is an option.

following the Oliver Upwind thread it looks promising, depending on the time frame you want to build the burner in you could: 1) wait for the detailed plans and instructions in the Oliver Upwind thread so you can replicate. ( or contact the builder directly) 2) follow another set of plans. (Frosty T burner here on the forum or Michael Porter's book) NOTE: I have experience with manufacturing the T burner.

I have got my hand on some Bentone and I replenished my Zirconium silicate reserves. Will not have time to do some practical experimentation until the weekend but I found some useful reading to combine with the info on digital fire relating to the firing temperatures and to compare the different cones to their respective temperatures. See attached. degrees to cone.pdf ceramics firing chart.pdf

Frosty, to answer you last question first: My name is Maarten (similar to Martin but not the same, lemon lime, etc.). For the Bentone/Bentonite I was mainly thinking along the lines of refractory coating/kiln wash. I have no experience whatsoever with burning blocks. I have had success with mixtures of zirconium silicate, kaolin clay and rigidizer in my small forge but the properties of Veegum/Bentone are promising in ease of application of the coating. The only downside I see is that in both products drying time seems to increase which would in turn be an upside if your Kast-O lite/veegum theory is correct. Time zones are familiar as half of my the company I work at is in the US on both coasts and I am here. Mike, I have to test some 3/4 T-burners somewhere in the coming week so I thought I will use some scrap ceramic wool and use that as a test bed for the Bentone. let's see how it stacks up to my current mixture, application and performance wise.

Hey Mikey, being able to find and afford the Veegum T is not really my point. For me it would be ok to ship it from elsewhere and I could probably afford it (and be willing to pay for shipping.) the next guy on my side of the pool may not have that luxury. I just found another product which is used for the exact same application that we can source localy and easily at a reasonable price. I was hoping you had some experience / insight. I intend to test the Bentone (not Bentonite but refined hectorite) on my end so we shall have that experience. At the very least we can compare notes :). I was very impressed with the 98 % zirconium silicate crucibles I saw on digitalfire, made with veegum, bentone is named as an alternative. That said, thanks for the pointer and let's stay in touch.

Cannot find a source for Veegum T in the netherlands (easily ) I can find Bentone or bentone. Both are brand names in US, but when I look it up here it seems to be a name for a refined hectorite. Digital fire names Bentone(EW) to be an alternative for Veegum T and what I can get here is the same chemical composition as they (digital fire) list. I will try a mix as I am experimenting anyway. Mike, any thoughts are welcome. any test results from your end also.

Yeah the bentonite is easy to find, it is in a lot of brands of cat litter as well. the veegumm is a branded form of it, also purified as I understand. In all forms pretty cheap as in most applications it seems to require a very low percentage mixed in with other components.

I was looking for properties of bentonite and found digitalfire, also stumbled on veegum, non of my local ceramics suppliers carry the veegum though. I am in the process of building a new forge and want to run some tests before I start the actual build. I may try using plane bentonite clay I can get at my supplier. I think it is a white firing one which has less non desirable minerals in it. At 3 to 5 percent it should not matter too much anyway unless you are worried about the whiteness of your porcelain, at least to my understanding. It will be interesting to see the difference between different mixtures as well. I intend to test: - bentonite + zirconium silicate - bentonite + kaolin clay + zirconium silicate (5%, 20%, 75%) Not sure yet as whether i will use plain water or water/rigidiser. May use both. Note that the instruction for bentonite is to mix dry then add water/ fluids. for veegum mix in hot water as Mike cites. Also: Mike, thanks for jogging my memory on an unusually quiet day at work. Forgot how much I love chemistry.

The intruction as i remember states half the diameter of the inlet. It has a picture, too. For tuning you can start trimming from there. Do you have a picture of the current state of the burner? Also of the flames. What pressure are you running it at?

Thanks guys, that means a lot. I'll work on my photography next.

Well I wanted to try this shape and I did. It is too thin and small to be a seax, I started with 3.5 millimetre thickness (5 X 6 CM around) and started forging. Just like me to do this the hard way :). All in all I wanted a plain knife which I succeeded at. final Spine thickness is about 2.5 mm. Blade is O2 tool steel, handle is hickory from an old (30 years) sledge hammer handle. (the head is currently servicing as my anvil). All in all I managed to get an edge on it, it cuts and is quite flexible. For heat treatment I normalized twice (cool down with the forge), heated to non magnetic and quenched in peanut oil. Tempered in oven at 220 Celsius 2 times. (1 hour cycles) The good: Learned to take a small piece of stock and forging it to desired shape First time hidden tang First time bolster Recycling old stuff The Bad: I need to make stuff flatter I need to fit the fittings tighter Need to forge cleaner (most of the pits after polish are scale) Need to leave a bit more meat on before quenching (slight warp) Any comments are welcome

t would be about 2696 cubic inches, a bit much. If you made a typo and it is actually 4418 cubic cm that would be about 4.5 litres and a little under 275 cubic inches. Depending on the size and shape of your forge 2 might be enough. (roughly 150 cubic inches per 1/2 inch T burner). What dimensions does your forge have, what kind of burners do you intend to use? What are you going to heat and will you need to forge weld?

Making stuff sounds attractive, I might introduce it next year for now just me, my girlfriend and the cats waiting for the year to pass. Not sure about the cats though.

Maybe look for a pottery supply place nearby. If your forge is small you can get leftovers for cheap. (I could but on the other side of the pool) They can be cut with a masonary saw or as I did by scoring with the diamond wheel on the Dremel and then gently tapping a cold chisel along the score line. also keep in mind if your forge is going to be small, get the thinner shelf so it takes up less of your chamber's volume.

Ah if only Brooklyn was Breuckelen it would be nearer. Congratulations though, and good news Good luck and look forward to hearing how you fare.

Happy to hear we are on the same side here. I will feel spammed though I will be in the country and available until Monday morning, also if any translation services are required.

I used what jcornell used coat my insulating wool, maybe even at his suggestion (don remember) and it holds up well. have not dnone much welding, all of it fluxless so I cannot enlighten you there. Pretty sure someone will chime in with more experience in how flux resistant the mixture is.

What about Wayne Coe artisian blacksmith? He has small quantities of the stuff you need. Or so I have heard. Surprised he did not chime in yet. His site also has some solid plans on building a forge. Still kind of depends in your budget. Or do you just wish to figure out what's what by experimenting? (Which I would understand)