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gerstley borate equivalent : ulexite : available in usa

updated sun 27 jul 03

 

WALLY ASSELBERGHS on sat 26 jul 03


Hello,
Further to Ababi's message a while ago.... Previous queries for Turkish supplier of Ulexite ended on a dead track in a ghost office in Luxembourg.... Had a last try and posted to "nakedrakugroup" on Yahoo. One of the Turkish members informed Ulexite is produced by ETI HOLDING AS, can be reached on website : www.etimine.com
They have agents and distributors in Italy, Germany and Spain. The German agent was so kind to send samples to their port distribution center in Antwerpen, 10 miles from my home. Sometimes luck is only one breath away....Will collect them and make testruns..
But the website also mentionned an agent in USA : ETIMINE USA in Pittsburg.
website : etimineusa@stargate.net
Does any of you Clayarters know this Company, or ever tried their ulexite, or could order samples and make test runs ? We could compare results afterwards......
According to technical information received from ETI, the chemical composition would be pretty 100% equal to GB...
Any additional info wellcome..
Keep your fires burning, regards,
Wally Asselberghs.
http://www.student.kuleuven.ac.be/~m9822918

In clayart@yahoogroups.com, Ababi wrote:
I know they have an agent in Luxembourg (With the help of Mark, a UK Clayarter)..... I send this letter to Wally too, perhaps you can tell us if you have succeeded......The glaze addict in me still wants to test this mineral....



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Tony Hansen on sat 26 jul 03


Your can find Turkish Ulexite at
http://www.digitalfire.ab.ca/cermat/ceramicmaterials/material.php?id=1657

There is a link to Gerstley Borate on the page and to two of their
websites (there is a link to the third on the etimine.com one.
Turkish Ulexite certainly not the same as GB either
in chemistry or fired characteristics. GB contains some Ulexite.
There is a part in the tutorial section in the INSIGHT
manual on incorporating it into a glaze to replace GB.

This reminds me of a question:
Ulexite is the best melting material I know of so I put it
into a porcelain body to replace feldspar. I expected it
to drastically reduce the firing temperature of the porcelain
but it did the opposite. How is this possible. Ulexite melts
to a crystal clearn glass at cone 06, feldspar does not even
do that at cone 10. Then why is feldspar a more effective
body flux?

--------8<----------
Hello,
But the website also mentionned an agent in USA : ETIMINE USA in Pittsburg.
website : etimineusa@stargate.net
Does any of you Clayarters know this Company, or ever tried their ulexite, or could order samples and make test runs ? We could compare results afterwards......
According to technical information received from ETI, the chemical composition would be pretty 100% equal to GB...
Any additional info wellcome..
Keep your fires burning, regards,
Wally Asselberghs.
http://www.student.kuleuven.ac.be/~m9822918


--------
Tony Hansen, Digitalfire Corp.