Fused Glass shops = High temperature supplies

[shred]

As I posted elsewhere, glass fusing shops have some high-temperature materials that can be both hard to find and useful-- Glass fusing is a takeoff from pottery kiln work, so ceramic/pottery supply places and stained-glass shops carry some of these supplies in a lot of places.

Anyway, they typically have high-temperature fiber blankets and paper (we call it "fiberfrax", they call it "fiber paper" up to 1/8" thick), usually for a few $ a square foot, in different thicknesses. Graphite chunks in the form of marble-shaping tools (probably a very expensive way to get graphite, but see below), stainless steel and titanium forms, wires and tools. Nichrome resistance wire (sold as "high temperature wire"), thin metal foils (copper, brass, gold, silver), firebricks and such like (anything that goes in the kiln has to survive several trips to ~1600'F or melt interestingly along the way)

On the other side, the pre-made stainless steel forms and graphite parts for glass are fairly expensive, and this is a low-volume business, so you maybe able to work a deal for some custom metal work.

One thing not to do is get some glass from one of these places and expect it to be flat. 'Art glasses' are hand-rolled and not the least bit flat.

 

[BobWarfield]

Good tip!

FWIW, I recently bought a 25' roll of Kaowool on eBay. There's a supplier there of Kaowool and other components needed for high temps, and they're cheap. Here's the one I'm talking about:

http://stores.ebay.com/HIGH-TEMP-REFRACTORY-STORE

A friend and I are building a forge to make Damascus steel in. I may also wind up building a heat treating oven, but haven't decided yet. For most work, the forge and a toaster oven would work really well.

Best,

BW