Eva Gallagher on mon 2 aug 04
Hi everyone and a big thankyou to Mel for gettings things going again!
I've just read in Wood-Fired Ceramics about John Chalke protecting the =
first chamber of his kiln (made with IFB) with a sprayed mix of =
Zircopax, alumina and frit. I think ITC has zirconium in it - same as =
Zircopax?
Just looking for a cheaper alternative to ITC as costs are beginning to =
add up for my wood-fird train kiln. Read Neils Lou's book where he sings =
the praises of ITC so maybe that is the way to go .
Anyone have experience with the Zircopax mix?
Regards,
Eva Gallagher,
Deep River, Ontario
June Perry on tue 3 aug 04
Eva,
I looked up the patents for these furnace coatings, i.e ITC and others and
the common thread it seems is that they all contain alumina, and zircon.
ITC obviously has sodium silicate for adhesion and it looks like some clay is
also in there.
Based on my use of ITC, I would think the zircon is more of a zircon sand, a
much more expensive material I believe than Zircopax, which would account for
the pricy nature of ITC.
You could spend a lot of time trying to come up with a formula that would
work, and spend more money on raw materials until you did!
Why not take advantage of some one elses work on this and just buy the ITC.
It's a great product and it sounds like you're building a nice kiln. Don't go
cheap on the coating.
I've been dealing with a soda kiln the past year, that had a cheaper coating
applied that came highly recommended from AP Green and it's been a mess --
lots of lost pots from that stuff just popping off, etc.
Warm regards,
June Perry
http://www.angelfire.com/art2/shambhalapottery/
Snail Scott on tue 3 aug 04
At 08:30 AM 8/3/04 EDT, June wrote:
>Based on my use of ITC, I would think the zircon is more of a zircon sand, a
>much more expensive material I believe than Zircopax, which would account for
>the pricy nature of ITC.
In the foundry, we use a fine-mesh zircon flour. It runs
almost $20 per 50# sack at industrial-quantity prices, and
since zircon is very heavy, they are pretty small sacks -
maybe a third the volume of a typical 50# sack of clay.
Cheaper than ITC by weight, though. I suspect that even
with high materials costs, your labor would cost more. So,
it's up to you whether to put in the R&D time plus the
materials cost, or whether to buy the product.
-Snail Scott
Eva Gallagher on thu 5 aug 04
June,
Thanks for the warning about your experience - I guess that I will just go
with ITC - but I sent an email to John Chalke - perhaps he will reply with
his experience - just in case it works wonderfully.
Eva Gallagher
Deep River, Ontario.
----- Original Message -----
From: "June Perry"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 8:30 AM
Subject: ITC vs Zircopax mix for wood-fired IFB
> Eva,
>
> I looked up the patents for these furnace coatings, i.e ITC and others and
> the common thread it seems is that they all contain alumina, and zircon.
> ITC obviously has sodium silicate for adhesion and it looks like some clay
is
> also in there.
> Based on my use of ITC, I would think the zircon is more of a zircon sand,
a
> much more expensive material I believe than Zircopax, which would account
for
> the pricy nature of ITC.
> You could spend a lot of time trying to come up with a formula that would
> work, and spend more money on raw materials until you did!
> Why not take advantage of some one elses work on this and just buy the
ITC.
> It's a great product and it sounds like you're building a nice kiln. Don't
go
> cheap on the coating.
> I've been dealing with a soda kiln the past year, that had a cheaper
coating
> applied that came highly recommended from AP Green and it's been a mess --
> lots of lost pots from that stuff just popping off, etc.
>
> Warm regards,
> June Perry
> http://www.angelfire.com/art2/shambhalapottery/
>
>
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