[TheForge] Drilling angles etc

[Bruce Freeman]

I never quite understood the use of molten sulfur.  The stuff goes
from a yellow powder to a red liquid, changing molecular form as it
does.  But when it cools, it goes back to yellow solid, and in my
limited experiences, breaks into a powder.  I haven't played with the
stuff for many years.  Anyone have experience using it to set posts?
Damned sight cheaper than epoxy if it works.  (Sulfur is available for
gardening at maybe $10/5 lb.

Lead wool is also available, but kinda pricey at $30/5 lb.  Remember
that lead is over 5x the density of sulfur.

Makes me wonder whether a cheapie version of niello could be used.
Niello is a mixed sulfide of silver, copper and lead (IIRC), and is a
black plastic-like substance used to ornament silverwork.  Maybe lead
sulfide or a mixed base-metal sulfide would have similar properties an
could be used for setting posts.  I've never heard of this being done.

One other note:  Epoxy's chief virtue is its bonding. The cost of
using epoxy can be greatly reduced by the use of fillers - nonepoxy
material that takes up space and is bound together by the epoxy.
Clean sand comes to mind as a possible filler - cheap, strong.

On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 10:51 PM, Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer
<artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
> Molten sulfur was traditionally used as well...cheap and quick setting .
>