iandol on fri 20 apr 01
Dear Rush,
I have seen people cut a digit from a surgical glove and use this on =
their finger tip to create that high surface polish you speak of. =
Sometimes the inside is smoother thatn the outside so they turn th =
edigit inside out. Using spit is interesting. Possibly a deflocculant? I =
recall it is an alkaline fluid.
Your technology reminded me of my early training as a metallurgical =
technician when we had to prepare welded specimens for test. Yes, we had =
to do the welding and we were marked on the success of achieving welds =
which would not break. Now, you will appreciate that we could not =
"compress" metal as potters say they "compress" plastic clay. After =
welding the metal, be it in plate or bar the excess metal was ground =
away, then the surface was filed with progressively finer cuts, then =
down to the emery cloth right through to finest flour. Finally the metal =
was buffed to a mirror bright finish with no sign of a weld. All this to =
remove those causes of fracture, those weaknesses called scratches and =
notches which act as points which elevated stress and from which a =
fracture will initiate.
Must say that I prefer using the term "Consolidation" which infers that =
I am closing imagined voids and micro-fissures which may happen when =
plastic clay is sheared during centering, coning, opening and raising. =
That implement used by Aki sounds interesting. Have you got a picture to =
show what it looks like and how it is used?
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis. Redhill, South Australia
| |
|
