[TheForge] pot

[Ries Niemi]

Glassblowers annealing ovens would work better- electronically controlled precise temps, with no hot spots, open flame, or air movement.
Remember, this stuff goes on as a powder, so a blower in a forge might not be the best way to heat it.

The cowboy coffee pot colors were not an accident, at least not after 1900 or so- they were made in huge industrial facilities- many factories in 1900 were large and modern- and the colors were quite precisely mixed to get exact results. These were low cost, commodity items sold at Sears and Monkey Wards, and they were made by the millions, literally. I am guessing a precise mix of sizes and colors of grits were used to get that great black with white specks.

Again, this process is available industrially- its just expensive and not many people do it. There are, no doubt, tricks of the trade, involving proper alloys, preheat and heat temps, frit formulations, cooldown cycles, and more.

ries


On Aug 9, 2012, at 5:13 AM, Andrew Vida wrote:

> 
> 
> On 8/8/2012 11:13 AM, Ries Niemi wrote:
>> Bruce, re-enameling may be theoretically possible- but where I live,
>> its usually practically impossible, with, basically, no shops who do
>> it.
> 
> I'm wondering whether you could get one of the blowers in your area to 
> do it.  There is a glass shop in Renton, methinks... I dropped in there 
> several times, a few with Seshat so she could  see what they did as she 
> was very interested in glass blowing at that time.
> 
> I've done enameling and it is not terribly difficult.  The hardest part 
> for large work like this is obtaining a large and consistent heat.  A 
> large forge set to a low output should be good for this sort of work. 
> With large "industrial" pieces such as pots and bath tubs, the surfaces 
> are prepared with an agent whose name escapes me at the moment to help 
> the frit stick to the surface without blowing away.
> 
> The base frit is essentially flour-ground and is applied through a 
> sifter.  If you want the dots, reapply more stick stuff and sift a 
> larger mesh frit over it.  Fire.  Done... though I would imagine larger 
> work like that (I've only done smaller pieces) will need to  "anneal" to 
> avoid cracking and spalling of the surface as the metal cools.
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