[TheForge] pot

[Ries Niemi]

On Aug 8, 2012, at 8:21 AM, Bruce . wrote:

> 150 years ago there was -- Allaire's Howell Works (now Historic
> Allaire Village) did this sort of enameling (on cast iron) routinely.
> 
> The thing is, enameling is melting glass onto metal.  There are any
> number of tricks to it, and, like I said, it probably isn't worth
> worrying about, but it certainly is possible.  IIRC, that blue with
> white specs was an artifact of the process, not the intention.
> Fortunately, it's quite good-looking, so was accepted by the
> customers.  I have no idea what caused those white speckles.  (I
> suspect fly-ash from the fire.)
> 
> I have enameled on copper.  Steel requires more attention because it's
> more prone to oxidize, but the process is the same.  It's a little
> like soldering or brazing -- get the metal clean, apply flux (NOT
> necessarily the flux you use for brazing), apply glass frit, heat to
> red.
> 
> There are lots of books on "copper enameling" out there.  Interested
> persons should read up on it.
> 


Enamel on steel is a bit different.
First, you need to use an appropriate steel- regular A36 gives pretty bad results. The guys who actually do enamel on steel use AK (aluminum killed) low carbon allows, which, coincidentally, are the same alloys used for deep drawing, or, making pots from.
Second, its very difficult to enamel on a substrate of varying thicknesses- fabricated objects of different sizes of metal usually dont heat evenly, or cool evenly, so that is why you mostly see this finish on sheet metal signs, or sheet metal pots.

I have never found a shop anywhere near me that does repairs to enamelled objects- generally, you have to completely remove the enamel and start over, and, since its glass, its tough and expensive to remove.

I did know a guy who did signage and artwork enameling. He was pretty much alone in the field in my area 30 years ago, when I sold him a scroll saw, and I cant imagine there has been any explosion in the number of shops doing this now. 
I think he may have gone out of business by now. 
I know some artists who have done some porcelain enamel on steel artworks, and I think most of them are using one of only a few companies nationwide that do this, and, obviously, at quite high prices.
Here is one such company.
http://www.kvoindustries.com/Pages/projects.html

I also know several people who have done artist residencies at Kohler, in Sheboygan Wisc, and they have enamelling facilities there for things up to the size of a bathtub. But its a huge industrial scaled operation, and would not be easy to replicate on a small scale.

ries