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Refractory on top of Soft Bricks.


Chris C

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Yup, recovering from bouncing is what made me stop flying paragliders a couple of years back.  In fact, I cancelled my membership and turned in my license number just this week.  I don't heal so fast at my age. Love the sky, but terra firma is much more reassuring.

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6 minutes ago, Chris The Curious said:

Love the sky, but terra firma is much more reassuring.

Uh HUH. The sky doesn't hurt like terra firma does though.

I used to hang glide when a rogollo kite was the thing to jump off steep hills in. It was a lot of fun but I needed to be in good shape and unbroken to do my job so I flew rarely then stopped. Kite rentals weren't too bad but 3 or so paid for an hour flight seeing ride. Heck, I had a couple friends who were happy for a ride along to help them hump gear up off the lake to a site.  Having a grunt along means they don't have to tie the plane and jump on and off the float to offload THEN hump it up off the lake. 

Yeah, no need to point out how many fatal plane wrecks we've had this year. I cringe when I hear about a plane wreck, I know too many pilots and dread hearing a friend died on a: mountain, lake, remote strip or trees.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Then you know the "Pull" to be airborne.  Two or three hours flying and circling in thermals is hard to explain to someone who's never experienced it.  Really spectacular to share a thermal with a hawk or buzzard.

Back to the subject.  I'm waiting on a phone call from the folks where I bought my soft bricks.  Received all my refractory materials today, so I'm all ginned up to get started.  Question:  Will the KOL stick to the soft brick or am I going to have to put some "tooth" on the surface of the brick to get it to adhere?

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You can scratch it up some, won't hurt but KOL is really sticky stuff. Butter the brick first, I just dip them in water with a drizzle of Elmer's white glue and it'll stick permanently. To remove it you'll need to shave brick. Clean your tools immediately or you'll have the dickens of a time getting KOL off, it sticks to plastic milk jug mixing bowls.

Get it with a wire brush before it starts setting and it cleans up fine but once it starts to set get ready to RUMMMMBLLLLE!

The Elmer's in the buttering bucket is an old mason trick I learned when I first moved up here and getting established. The mud man put a cap full per gallon in the water when he mixed mortar.

Frosty The Lucky.

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That'll work but it won't "flow" like concrete the aggregate is all crusher run so it keys and doesn't flow. You'll  need to vibrate and rod in into the form. Tapping the form with a mallet won't do it, I drilled a 3/8" hole in a piece of 1/4" x 3/4" x 3/4 - 1" strip stock. ran a bolt through it and nutted it hard. I chucked it up in my hand drill and used it as a vibrator on the form. It made free moisture but barely moved the KOL. Next time I'm putting the weight on a longer piece of rod that passes through a couple wood bearings screwed to the bottom of the form so it's hard coupled and will vibrate it vertically. HARD.

What do you have for a form? KOL sticks to everything even linoleum but a liberal coating of stiff grease, old Crisco makes an adequate release agent. Don't count of being able to pull an interior form out in one piece, I couldn't get an exterior one to come off, I had to take it apart. You'll want to make an interior form break down.

Cylindrical is easy, roll linoleum into a tube shiny side out grease liberally and you can roll it tighter to make it smaller and pull out. Well . . . peal it out. -_-

I don't like plastering KOL either, it's too gritty and you can't get it smooth. I've redesigned my next proposed forge several times to see if I can work around KOL's working characteristics. The stuff's a PITA to work but boy it's a great refractory. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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My plan was to make a "collapsible" form out of Plexiglas that has the polyethylene protective sheet on it.  Crisco the heck out of it.  Then when the KOL sets up, collapse the form.  (well, it works in my mind!);)  I figured pushing the KOL down into the void would work.  Of course, I've never seen KOL worked and don't really know what to expect.

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That should work, I endorse your plan. Plan on ramming the KOL into the form, small rod and mallet. Feel free to push but be ready to ram it. It'll only push a little way. Fill it from the bottom UP in small dollops or you'll never fill the voids.

For a good working image of what I mean by the aggregate "Keying." Roll some marbles between your hands then roll some jacks between your hands. Marbles slip smoothly past each other, Jacks key and lock together. Crushed aggregate keys and locks together. Make sense? The aggregate in KOL is crusher run and keys like the dickens. 

I think your mind's eye has a pretty good idea of what you'll need to do. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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13 hours ago, Chris The Curious said:

Then you know the "Pull" to be airborne.  Two or three hours flying and circling in thermals is hard to explain to someone who's never experienced it.  Really spectacular to share a thermal with a hawk or buzzard.

Yep it's something. I smile thinking about it. There's a glider school about ninety minutes away from me. The first time you pull the release and are gliding on your own is something I'll never forget.     I pushed my luck in too many other ways and decided I didn't want to risk it. After the motorcycle crash I lost some of urge to do things that can kill me.

Pnut

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Don't even get me started on "glider school".  I'd give my right arm to learn to fly fixed wing gliders.  I've even latched onto Bruno Sassel's gliding video site so I can fly "with" him.  There was something very intimidating about flying a soft winged aircraft that could fold up at any second and dump you 3,000+ feet to the ground.  The only thing about fixed wing gliders is the cost.  I think you know how difficult it's been to come up with enough money to build my forge, so surely you can understand why fixed wing flying would be completely unattainable.  And, on top of that, as you say,  I'm trying to "stretch" out the length of time I've got on God's green earth, so I'm not inclined to push my luck.

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A friend of ours has a Sugar Glider. Pretty affectionate little critter, it won't do any gliding if you cuddle even a little. It just snuggles in and goes to sleep. 

It does glide though and doesn't mind being tossed across the room so long as you don't throw it. It's kind of weird playig catch with something that can maneuver and catches itself on contact. 

I never got more than a couple hundred feet off the ground. The training kite wasn't much for riding thermals, I don't even recall the glide ratio, not great but okay. Fun for a while.

Frosty The Lucky.

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