Eleanora Eden on tue 10 apr 07
Last fall Frank Colson made some remarks about colloidal silica and
I followed up and bought a gallon of 40% colloidal silica from Remet Corp
in Utica NY. This is a water-like liquid that is used to build up molds for
metal casting. Frank suggested flint and/or kaolin as thickeners.
By mixing it with equal parts kaolin and flint it makes a thin slip that
I have done some tests with. I've glued together and fired cubes of
softbrick and kaowool board, also slotted a piece of porcelain tile into
a piece of softbrick and glued it in. Also used it as a hardener for the
surface of softbrick and kaowool board. All tests successful at bisc
temp and also ^3.
Now I'm using it to mend a kaowool board kiln lid that I made. The joint
between the two pieces of board were originally done with ITC and it
never was that successful. Also the surfacing of the board with ITC 200
didn't make a hard enough coat to not nick and abrade it with use.
The colloidal silica mixture hardens at room temp, sort of like using
karo syrup. Very hard at room temp.
The stuff precipitates out if frozen and comes with a thermometer glued
to the jug. It cost me $27 at the warehouse (besides the hours it took to find
the warehouse) but I understand very costly to ship.
I'll be happy to send the contact info at Remet to anybody
who wants to follow up on that.
Eleanora
Here are the original posts from Frank Colson concerning this stuff:
Please note, you all! The most effective "RIGIDIZER" for any application
using ceramic fiber is "collidial silica" which is produced through
ionization of "sodium siclica" This is the generic name for this material
which is sold on the market under numerous product names at a fraction of
the costs that people in the craft, and craft related fields (glass) buy it
for
from clay suppliers. It does not have "silica" in it! I have used clear
liquid collidal silica for endless applications for more than 4 decades.
For example, one of my electric kiln lids, started to crack. I simple
applied collicial silica into the crack; after the next firing, Bingo! The
lid is repaired totally, no more cracking or shifting movement of the kiln
lid. I could do an entire list of related applications. And the best part
is that my costs is about $2.00 per quart!
Frank Colson
www.R2D2u.com
Here are 3 of the biggest
companies where you can get this, 1 gallon to 55 gal. drum: NALCO, REMET,
HARBISON-WALKER
Frank Colson
www.R2D2u.com
--
Bellows Falls Vermont
www.eleanoraeden.com
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