Vermiculite & Perlite

T

Terry_Dodson

Joined
Jul 10, 2002
Messages
839
Hi, i have seen the terms Vermiculite & Perlite used several places about bladesmithing. So i went by Lowes and picked up a bag of each. Now i was wondering if someone could tell me exactly what each is used for in bladesmithing, how, and the pros and cons of each. Vermiculite i think is used for annealing blades in, but what type of container do you need or is it important? Can you use like 4" pvc pipe, or would it melt? Things like that. Thanks.
 
Both would be for annealing. I wouldn't use the 4" pvc pipe. A big steel bucket would be better, it helps to heat up a big chunk of scrap steel at the same time you heat up your blade steel and put them in the vermiculite together, or use the scrap steel chunk to preheat the vermiculite. One more thing, if any of the blade stock is sticking out of the vermiculite you won't get a good anneal. The heat will travel out of the steel where it is exposed to the air and the whole thing will cool off to fast.
 
Thanks, i found out about the part sticking out not getting a good anneal. I am working on a katana type blade and using 2 coffee cans welded together with an inswool lining and left part of the blade sticking out and plugged the opening with inswool, thinking it would keep warm inside the forge, went back a couple hours later and the entire blade was cold to the touch. So i know now that i have to heat and cover the enire blade at once, which i have done before in my 40" charcoal forge, but i dont really like leaving something hot like that outside as we have been in a drought for a while, and always worry about something outside catching fire when i am not around. I like the propane forge because it is in my garage and nothing flamable is anywhere near, and on firebricks. Guess i will have to make a 40" propane forge soon :D
 
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