[TheForge] Ceramic Chip Forge Workshop?

[keporter at comcast.net]

-------------- Original message -------------- 

> 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... 
Yes, but the whole point of using (the generally more expensive) rammable, instead of castable, refractory is to ensure the highest quality "chips" possible. Cutting the balls from rammable is going to exclude the possibility of air entrapment. However, rolling is probably good enough; really, it's a question of the degree of control desired.
> 
> 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? 
You don't want to reflect heat in this case. The whole point of thermal mass is to absorb huge amounts of heat, and then give it up at the desired moment.
> 
> 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. 
Not only bake, but bring them right up to curing temperature, then up to yellow hot.
> 
> 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.
Yes; that is a standard scheme used in some slot forges. 
> 
> 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?
Mifco slot furnaces use them. 
> 
> 
> 
> 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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