How to stick refractory materials together?

[Leon Husock]

I'm making a heat treating drum and I want to cement the ceramic sheath for my thermocouple in place so I can take the thermocouple in and out but the sheath stays in place. The inside of the furnace is (of course) lined with rigidized kaowool, and the barrel already has a hole in the top that fits the ceramic sheath perfectly. Can I use satanite to stick it in place? Furnace cement? What would be the best solution here?

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

If you're building a Don Fogg style, don't rigidize the majority of the wool. Rigidizer drastically reducing the insulation value of the wool. You only rigidize wool that is likely to have material rub against it.

That aside, don't try to "glue" things in place, they only crack if you do. Usually they are simply inserted through a hole and friction holds them in place

 

[Leon Husock]

If you're building a Don Fogg style, don't rigidize the majority of the wool. Rigidizer drastically reducing the insulation value of the wool. You only rigidize wool that is likely to have material rub against it.

That aside, don't try to "glue" things in place, they only crack if you do. Usually they are simply inserted through a hole and friction holds them in place

Thanks, that's really helpful to know about the rigidizer. The friction thing won't work because I'm using a pre-existing hole in the top of the drum that had a little plug screwed into it that I just unplugged. That said, not long after I posted this I had the bright (and much less complicated) idea to just use a metal spring clamp with all the rubber bits removed to hold the top of the sheath where it pokes out of the barrel, so problem solved.

 

[weo]

Your original idea with refractory would have worked also.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Use refractory cement. Rutland stove cement, APT-36, or just plain Satanite. Mortar the sheath in place and it is done.