Garry Muir

Hi Frosty,

That statement sounds a bit like Irish Logic, and not being derogatory. to the Irish either as they have wonderful singers and fine Smiths that have bee around for eons, plus the Irish dancers are rather special.

Hi Nate,

Thank's very much for your input on both the size and the silicate.  I have started to soak the cat litter, so I might as well keep going with it and try my hand at making it.  First hurdle is, it has now been soaking in the water for two days and has not reduced in quantity of crystals that much.  If I was to do it again, I think I would pulverise the crystals into powder prior to soaking, and yes it has to be strained to take out the lumps.   Colloidal or Fumed Silica?  Are they a common sort of mineral that is readily available or is it a chemist/ specialist purchase?  I realise that your Country and have varying restraints on different chemical etc, so I don't know much about the stuff to try it as well.  I am not pig headed enough to say up yours and continue on blindly (like searching for mines using a blindfold and your foot), and as you can see by the ridiculous questions that I ask, I am a master of everything, but  a klux at most things, let's just say a highly intelligent idiot, but on the other hand, you have to crawl before you walk and all the input into these questions is teaching me to sit up before I crawl.

Than's heaps to all that have offered suggestions, you can rest assured that I will be looking at all the suggestions along the way.

Best Regards and Health (from Down Under)

Garry

Hi frosty,

I haven't reduced the length of the cylinder as yet, and as I said in a previous post, I will bring it back to 10 - 12 inches.  I have the wool fitted into the cylinder at the moment (only as a look see what I have left as far a space goes), if I put in another layer that will take the diameter from 12 to 8 inches and the same with the depth if I slice it of at 12 inches in length, so I would finish up with 402 Cub Inches.  Just a rough measurement, the cylinder is almost the same size as an LPG Gas Bottle (9 Kg 19.8 lbs) as far as diameter goes.  Would that be sufficient to play around with, until I gain some skills in beating up hot metal?

Using the water glass inside, then between two layers of wool and over the outer surface of the last layer, then comes the (brain fart) can't think of the names of the slurry/mud coat.  Would it be worth coating over the finished job a couple of times with water glass as an aid to reduce likely damage and also as an extra insulation?

Thanks heaps for being patient with this Old Goat.

Best Regards and Health to all.

Garry

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Laws are weird here but not THAT weird. Kitty litter doesn't even require you own a cat. Sodium silicate is a different thing I think politicians listening to the low sodium diet craze and got confused.

Before Mike got us convinced colloidal silica made a better rigidizer than sodium silicate I think most folk have stopped even looking for it. But what you propose as a forge liner would work well though current consensus is two layers of 1" ceramic wool refractory rigidized with a hard inner inner of castable refractory as the flame face and armor against mechanical erosion. Followed with a kiln wash as a final IR radiant layer and final bit of armor.

Cut the blanket a little large to fit the circumference and compress it to fit that way it'll support itself. Paint the inside of the shell with water glass stuff first and it should glue the blanket on. Rigidize the wool install the second layer and rigidize it.

You know you can cause sodium silicate to set up very quickly with CO2 yes? Seriously put a dish of soda pop in the forge and cover it with plastic it'll be hard in half an hour. Casters who make molds with sodium silicate bonded sand use CO2 injection to harden the molds.

Frosty The Lucky.

Hi Thomas.

Sorry Buddy, not that good of a shot, had to use two stones...LOL

JHCC,

Never took Latin at school, I had enough trouble with English and French (fails French) and went there in 84 ordered Stake Tartare, thinking it was Steak with a sauce??? when they plonked down a big mince pattie with an egg in half a shell, winking at me, I near chundered.   LOL, should have paid attention in school.

Ah, OK Frost,

Well when I do get to use this stuff, I was playing with the idea of giving the cylinder wall a coat and putting the wool in and then coating the wool.  What do you think?  Also, is 1"(I understand inches and feet Old School) sufficient thickness for the wool?

Garry

G'Day Buddy,

I don't have a clue what you are talking about with the Mono thingo and tertiary bit, but I will believe you.   If the crystals haven't melted by sunday down under, I will have to leave them for 4 days, so don't worry, I will not have forgotten to let you know.

Garry

Hey Frosty,

Some strange laws for you guys, when it is Kitty Litter down here.  And you can pick it up at the local corner store, I didn't see any large print on the packet that said it was hazardous to your health, but, anything to do with chemicals, you would treat with respect at any rate.  Crazy bloody world we live in these days.

Take Care

Garry

Hey Mikey,

I had a go at trying the first part of the process, where he said 60gs of silicate and 100ml of water.  When I tried it, the amount of water seems way too small to get the crystals to melt.  I then went back to the vid and had a look at the way he was doing it and he used around 150 to 200 ml of water, so I have put in another 100 ml.  Overnight there is still a fair amount of crystals remaining, so will keep the post going to see what happens.

Regards to All

Garry

Hey Mikey,

It is what the site is all about, caring and sharing.  I just hope I get it correct, but, as they say, Time will tell every body.

Take care Troops

Garry

Hi Lou,

Thank you for your comments, I will give it a go and see what happens.  That Wikipedia site tells me it has some amazing properties and many uses, must be good stuff.

Again, thank you for your time.

Garry

Hi Mikey,

The kitty litter I was watching being used is the white crystals with the blue pieces in it.  They showed the method of dissolving the crystals with water and (they used some sort of drain cleaner) but the main ingredient in the cleaner would have been caustic soda, it dissolves in the combination of water and turns into what they called Water Glass.  At stays liquid until heat is applied and it form a bonding/ heat shield type of arrangement.

Here is the Utube site that I was watching

Best Regards and thanks for your in put.

Garry

3 minutes ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

Wish we had a thumbs up emoji.

I missed the Emoji,s up the top, gettin Old me thinks???, Oh well we all gotta get there some day.

I just watched a Utube Video on making Stiffener out of Kitty Litter and Caustic Soda, has anybody used it and how does it go?  Looked to be doing the job that it was made for (I think they were calling it Liquid Glass?).

Cheers all.

Garry

Quote

 

5 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

I have to ask. What did you use to cut the tank that didn't cause it to explode?

Cooee Mates, (now ya can't get any more Australian than that  LOL),

The tank sat around in my shed for years without a valve on it.  And just to be on the safe side, I filled it with water and as the water soaked down I put more into it, until it was full.  The again, being safe, I didn't just set to it with the angle grinder and slice it open straight off, I cut it all round,part way through the thickness of the wall and then used a fine chisle to open the cut.  I may be silly, but, definitely not stupid.  ;-) 

Hi Mikey98118 And Frosty,

Thank you both for you replies, so 10"it will be and yes Frosty I have cut the bottle 's end off and yes it was a surprise as to what was in it, so I filled it with water just to keep the fibres from floating around and put it into plastic bags and it is now in the Trash Dump and buried.  Been working on a burner and have the basics down for it, now just have to assemble in.  Still have to get the rigidiser and the other product to cover the wool with.  No rush though, way too Old to be running around like you young Colts.

Have a Great Day guys and again thank you for your input.  Stay Safe as the situation allows.

Garry

Hi All,

And thank you for your replies.  At this point of time, I am just trying to get the forge up and running with no real urgency for deciding what I want to make.  Would 10" depth be a good enough size, as it would only involve cutting the cylinder with an angle grinder.  So I would finish up with 9"Diameter and 10"depth.  This would give me a capacity of 636.172512351933 Cubic inches.  Looking at the other posts above, I would hazard a guess that there would be a requirement of two burners.  I have used 1" thick Kaowool as insulation and if that is sufficient thickness, then I think the cylinder at 10"depth might be the go.

Thank you all immensely, for taking the time to respond to my questions, they may look silly, but, I have learn't over the years, is that the question you don't ask will never get an answer and I think I would rather ask a dumb question than no know.  

Hi Guys, Gals ?,

who knows these days?  Thank you two guys for you responses, maybe I nee to look at cutting the length?  At this stage, I am not sure as to just what i will bge goining into, it is just that the bottle was there and I thought, what the XXXX Boy, go for it.

Maybe I should type this upside down, LOL

Anyway, to the chase.

I have an Old Acetylene bottle and that is what I am using as a shell, with the kaowool it is reduced to the size that I have given 9"by 18" (it's OK, I am an Old Bloke and understand the Imperial System of measurements, that is, until you start on volume and other stuff like that LOL)  At this point iof time, besides doing the metal work bit, my wife is into silver smithing and the way I see it, I can turn the furnace to an upright position and do the melting that way and when required, put it into the Horizontal mode and use it that way, to cover all bases as best I can and appiese the good Lady as well. LOL.

I have had a yearning to try my hand at Smithing for a long time and this is what I have started out with, so any input would be greatly appreciated.

At present I am in the throws of building a Burner and that is the reason for the inquiry, is there a site, or whatever, where you can give the specs that will tell you what you need to use X amount of burners to X amount of volume. 

All you guys up there, stay safe and thank you in advance for any further comments.  Just another thought has brightened my life, it is like sell ing something, you put a price on an item, you can always go down, but can't go up, so maybe that was in my mine when I used the length?

Hi and Hello from Aussie Land,

I am the New Kid on the Block and am starting to assemble my forge.

I did the measurements and it is 9" diameter (after adding Kaowool) and 18'deep.

Went the the math site and input the figures and it came back with 1145 cubic inches.

Have I done the right or wrong math? seems a lot of air to me, any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Looks like I have messed up this post as well.

Have a great Day Guys.

Garry