Vermiculite for annealing

R

R.C.Reichert

Joined
Jul 26, 2008
Messages
1,006
So I bought some vermiculite and steel pail to put it in, but I was wondering if for annealing, should I keep this stuff at room temperature or warmer maybe? Do you guys pre-heat your vermiculite? I'm assuming it's not good to try to anneal my steel in a pail of cold vermiculite that's been sitting out in the shed.

Actually, was just thinking, what if I used a small portable ceramic hot plate on low heat and set the metal pail on top of it, it should keep the vermiculite nice and warm. Would that work? Or maybe I should have just stuck it in my electric stew cooker.:D
 
Last edited:
I pre-heat mine by heating a chunk of mild and then putting it in the vermiculite. I let it soak in the vermiculite while I heat the blade. I pull the piece out and put the blade in to cool.
 
I use wood ash but i do the same as Will and put a hot chunk of metal in first.
Due to the insulating properties of ash or vermiculite trying to heat it from the outside is a waste of time.

Bob
 
does anybody know if perlite works as well as vermiculite? My wife just bought a huge bag of perlite....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top