Coating Kaowool

Has anyone had any experience coating kaowool with imperial high-temp stove and furnace cement? Do you paint it on or apply it with a trowel? I'm pretty sure I'm getting ahead of myself(as I often do lol) as I have yet to see the consistency of the cement. Can the cement be thined out with water?

 

I hope the answer is yes, just following along

 

I used a stick.



If it's thick, add a little bit of water.



With a thin stick, I am daubing the cement on.



Waiting for the coating to dry.

Dan

 

That looks realy good ! Thanks for the info
Dan !

 

Go to Walmart and buy a cheap silicon cake mixing spatula, spray the wool with some water then apply cement with the spatula, I have found that to work the best.
Every time I get that refractory from Canadian Tire I usually have to take it back because it is so hard you can't spread it. So give the pail a good squeeze and make sure it is soft.

 

I can see the looks on people's faces going pail to pail giving it a squeeze

 

Haha just like the produce section.... Looking for the ripe one lol!

 

DON'T DO IT!!!!
call tuckers pottery in Toronto get the rigidizer liquid. It's a silica colloidal suspended in glycol and water. Its what you should use. I coated mine with that cement your talking about and it just cracked and crumbled and now it's flaking off.
Your best bet albeit expensive would be 2 coats of the rigidizer and a coat or 2 of itc-100

 

It depends on what you are using the forge for. If you are welding and using borax in it then you better have some ceramic cement like Super 3000 to coat the wool.

 

I didn't know that. Could you expand on this a bit more. What effect does the borax have on the lining?

 

It will eat it like cotton candy and it will disappear.

 

Forge is correct. Molten borax eats forge lining like cotton candy in boiling water. Also once its in the forge, it melts and continues eating next time you fire it up again, not just the day you are welding.

 

Do you mean just the splatter and vapors? I have a brick floor and typically don't make contact with the ceramic fiber lining. Except by accident.

 

I may have to look into building a vertical forge. Any suggestions on available plans for one?

 

Don't forget the post here. http://www.canadianknifemaker.ca/index.php?threads/build-your-own-forge.106/
This is roughly what I am going to do for another project.

Dan

 

Thanks guys. This will definitely be the next build once this one need a refining. Which will be soon haha that firebrick keeps turning into glass on me. And your right about the borax lol.

 

Probably more of a question for Dan or Forge, but how is the refractory cement holding up?

I've finally dipped my toes into forge welding and my old refractory doesn't hold up to the heat, It's gone all melty on me so I need to either re line my existing forge or get off my butt and build my bigger one.

I have the Kaowool and have made some sodium silicate that I could use as a rigidizer, but I also have the Imperial Hi Temp cement you used as well. Planning on using hard firebrick for the floor so I can remove it and replace as needed but wanted to know how the other stuff was holding up?