[TheForge] Ceramic Chip Forge Workshop?

[Jeffrey Polaski]

I Have some ramable refractory, but I haven't used any of it yet...
Couldn't you just roll a little bit around in your hands and make balls
that way? Think of making cookies out of cookie dough...

This is just speculation... Maybe, if you want to get fancy, you could
use zircon as the "flour", that way you get more heat reflected off the
balls.  Or a little ITC-100? 

Another guess, but you'd probably want to bake them in a forge first, so
their good and hard before you used them as chips.

I was thinking that you could put half a "clamshell" over the chips, to
reflect back some of the heat. It would be pretty easy to make out of
sheet metal or straps, ceramic blanket & ITC-100. The drawing below
should give you a good idea of how it would work.

 |  <-- pipe
 |
[ ]----------\      
 |       /--------\
 |      /          \        <-- "clamshell"
 |
 |-------\********/---|     <-- table & chips
 |        \******/    |



The clamshell is hung from a rod connected to a collar that's slid over
a piece of pipe.

I have no idea if it would be too useful, but it might let you get a
little more efficiency out of your forge, and maybe make it a little
hotter.  It seems like a fairly obvious thing... Has any one else tried
it? 



Jeff Polaski
RGS Webmaster
(949) 824-6363

"The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk" 
			-Ogden Nash

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Keporter at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2005 11:34 AM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Ceramic Chip Forge Workshop?


 
 
In a message dated 7/15/2005 2:55:20 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
jpolaski at rgs.uci.edu writes:

Yea! I  made a contribution!

First, a melon baller, next, World  Peace!

Jeff Polaski
RGS Webmaster
(949)  824-6363

World peace? Probably not. However, you did make it into a book. The  
following is a quote from the ceramic chip forge chapter:
 
"It isn't  necessary to use a premium filler choice in the beginning. 
However, round balls  will give better flow characteristics as the flame
moves 
through them, and will  be easier to push work into. Small balls made
from rammable 
refractory are not  going to be inclined to crack if they're made
carefully; 
it is hardly a tragedy  if some of them do. 
Jeff Polaski  was the first to suggest using a melon  ball cutter
(kitchen 
tool) for forming refractory balls. You can also  find..."
Mike P.

 
 
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