Robb S3

I do.. I have two cats, myself, ha! When I encountered the info about kaowool and lung cancer I was reluctant to test on anything that might throw particulates into the air, but it sounds like that's not so much an issue here, and I already have a P100 dust mask... Lol

Ah that's a great point I didn't consider and something that would definitely be useful. Looks like I will go ahead and test it out -- my main concern was with safety and price, but litter is obviously cheap enough where the latter isn't an issue. So as long as there aren't any safety concerns then it sounds like the way to go. Thank you for your amazingly fast replies. This is a great forum that I'm disappointed in myself for not finding a long time ago.. Rob

That would be great if it could be that simple, but I honestly didn't know. I guess my question was how much heat might "overflow" from the block and hit the surrounding surface. If it would be little enough that dirt/litter would do the job, then yes that would definitely be the cheapest solution. What are the repercussions if too much heat hits the surrounding area? Thanks for the quick reply by the way. Would sand/pop be kosher in my case simply to give me the ability to form the protective layer into a solid surface (mostly for the backing which would have to stand vertically).

Hi all, I've been reading these forums for a couple days now trying to find a solution to my problem but I can't seem to find a straight answer. I'm on a tight budget looking for cheap DIY solution for a heat resistant surface for brazing/soldering (not sure which is the correct term) small copper and brass pieces. I know there are commercial solutions out there like solderite boards (not sure what the material is technically called), but they tend to be pretty expensive (~$35 for a 12"x12" piece). I'd like my protective layer to be somewhat larger than that -- in the ballpark of 24"x24" inches. I plan on using a charcoal or honeycomb block to place my project pieces on directly, but I'd like another larger protective layer underneath (and probably also behind) the charcoal block to prevent heat damage to the underlying bench surface. I originally was going to use sand/POP but I quickly discovered that was a big no-no after stumbling upon IFI. I'll be using a basic propane torch (the kind you can buy at home depot for $15-$20 with a tank included) to do my heating, and again, the work piece will be sitting on a charcoal block so that will be receiving the heat directly. I'm assuming the underlying protective surface will need to reflect or re-radiate the heat, but I don't know if that's only the case if the work piece is on said surface directly. Since it won't be (in my case), would it be sufficient to simply use a heat resistant surface that may *absorb* and draw heat away as opposed to reflecting it? In that case I would think a simple piece of mild steel or even the aforementioned sand/pop mixture might work since it wouldn't be subjected to the torch directly and therefore wouldn't erode away. I've seen that kaowool is a popular component in DIY forge building, so I'd also think I could just put a layer of that down underneath the charcoal block, but then I ran into the problem of the fibers being thrown into the air and ending up in my lungs, which I definitely don't want. Further, while it's not *that* expensive, I feel like I can get away with an even cheaper solution considering I won't be working on the kaowool directly. Not to mention adding a rigidizer into the equation to counter the problem of the fibers will push me past the edge of my already small budget. Apologies if this isn't the right subforum to post this question in. And thanks in advance for any advice. Rob