Sand
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:03 pm
I started writing this last night and something gliched and I lost what I had written so I said to h#$% with it and went to bed.
SandThis is something that we all use in this hobby and bussiness that we have decided to get into for one reason or another. I myself have no trouble locating Sand, this is because I happen to have a supplier of Sand Blasting Media here in OKC that happens to handle Quikrete Fine Sand No. 1961-55, this is a very fine white I would say Silica Sand. It works great in either Greensand or Oilbonded Sand, a friend of mine mixes his own Petrobond with the very same sand.
The bit of information that I was wanting to post is that Quikrete's web site you can find the phone numbers to the Quikrete offices in your state. I would think that if a person was to call their office an ask for a distributor that handles a sand that matches their requirements for casting, ie cast iron needs a corser sand than say Aluminum, although most people use what they have for both. Anyway I do, except for when I may be trying something else like Crayola play sand in the blue color, it actually leave a presentable finish on Cast Iron.
Quikrete has this sand in three differant grades, so there is room to experment with differant mixtures and differant sands on differat metals.
Myself I am in the process of building a Muller so that I may mix Oilbonded sand ie Petrobond/K-Bond, there are several recipe's around those are the most often mentioned two that I know of.
My main reason for adding this post to the list of suppliers is that a lot of people have a very hard time locating a suitable media for their casting needs. One thing that most people seem to forget is that a hundred years ago foundries and People doing this on their own weren't able to run down to the local Sand Blasting Media supplier in their area or town and buy what they needed. They dug it out of the ground. Most rivers have a suitable sand along it. There is really only one thing that is required of the sand besides having a refactory point that is high enough to withstand the temperature of the molten metal that is being poured into it, and that is it has to have enough clay in it to make it stick together or bind together so that it will hold a shape when rammed up against a pattern.
I just this afternoon stopped at an Ace Hardware store near my house and out of couriosity checked in the Swimming Pool supply's, They had three bags of filter media laying there waiting for someone to buy them, Filter Media for a sand filter is nothing more that washed Beach sand that has been screened to a certian size, yes it may be a bit larger that what some would want for casting Aluminum, Gold, or Silver in but with some Bentonite mixed in it would work fine.
I hope this helps some find a sand that will work for their needs, Others the Experts should get a good laugh out of it.
David
P.S. Casters located in Oklahoma City area that don't know, but would like to know where to buy sand PM me and I will let you know.
SandThis is something that we all use in this hobby and bussiness that we have decided to get into for one reason or another. I myself have no trouble locating Sand, this is because I happen to have a supplier of Sand Blasting Media here in OKC that happens to handle Quikrete Fine Sand No. 1961-55, this is a very fine white I would say Silica Sand. It works great in either Greensand or Oilbonded Sand, a friend of mine mixes his own Petrobond with the very same sand.
The bit of information that I was wanting to post is that Quikrete's web site you can find the phone numbers to the Quikrete offices in your state. I would think that if a person was to call their office an ask for a distributor that handles a sand that matches their requirements for casting, ie cast iron needs a corser sand than say Aluminum, although most people use what they have for both. Anyway I do, except for when I may be trying something else like Crayola play sand in the blue color, it actually leave a presentable finish on Cast Iron.
Quikrete has this sand in three differant grades, so there is room to experment with differant mixtures and differant sands on differat metals.
Myself I am in the process of building a Muller so that I may mix Oilbonded sand ie Petrobond/K-Bond, there are several recipe's around those are the most often mentioned two that I know of.
My main reason for adding this post to the list of suppliers is that a lot of people have a very hard time locating a suitable media for their casting needs. One thing that most people seem to forget is that a hundred years ago foundries and People doing this on their own weren't able to run down to the local Sand Blasting Media supplier in their area or town and buy what they needed. They dug it out of the ground. Most rivers have a suitable sand along it. There is really only one thing that is required of the sand besides having a refactory point that is high enough to withstand the temperature of the molten metal that is being poured into it, and that is it has to have enough clay in it to make it stick together or bind together so that it will hold a shape when rammed up against a pattern.
I just this afternoon stopped at an Ace Hardware store near my house and out of couriosity checked in the Swimming Pool supply's, They had three bags of filter media laying there waiting for someone to buy them, Filter Media for a sand filter is nothing more that washed Beach sand that has been screened to a certian size, yes it may be a bit larger that what some would want for casting Aluminum, Gold, or Silver in but with some Bentonite mixed in it would work fine.
I hope this helps some find a sand that will work for their needs, Others the Experts should get a good laugh out of it.
David
P.S. Casters located in Oklahoma City area that don't know, but would like to know where to buy sand PM me and I will let you know.