Southern Cal Source for Refrac Mortar

[WJW]

He called back.

Said the product I want is Sairset. Comes in a 55 lb bucket. Price for the bucket is 45 dollars.

Is Sairset the stuff he told you to use?

The Pumpable Inswool putty comes in tubs and ten ounce caulk tubes. The caulk tubes are ten dollars each.

Bill

[azatty]

That's the stuff John got snookered on. Dmun doesn't recommend it, either.

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f44/...tar-14791.html (Sairset For Dome Mortar?)

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by dmun

Wet mix mortars are considered a problem in oven building. For one thing, they are heat setting, and they aren't waterproof in our application. Also, they are designed for thin joints: they are not so good at filling the wide gaps on the outside of the dome. If you're getting the stuff cheap, it may be out of date, and wet mortars don't store well. It might also have been damaged from too hot or too cold storage.

I'd steer clear if you have another option.

Just read dnum's post.

The premixed I use is an air setting type, takes about 10 minutes.
For a barrel all you will have is thin joints.
Wet mortars have to be used or they will go off.

[SCChris]

Search on Premix..
Dmun has a horror story about premix and if I remember correctly Splatgirl used premix and was happy with it.


I used premix, Sairset, and didn't, haven't had problems, but my oven is enclosed in a house and water isn't / wasn't an issue.

What I liked was;
Open the bucket remove what you expect to use, add a bit of water and mix to the consistency of smooth Peanut butter and go.. Whatever is left, goes back in the bucket to be used later.. Clean up is easy, wipe down with a wet sponge, this is the up side of John's down side.

The home brew is cheap and easy to make up, I used it on the chimney and liked it. As long as you clean up right away it's not a problem.

Many people "dis" the premix and it's really meant for kiln building, but it bonds, and as far as I can tell works well and doesn't let go with use. I would warn anyone not to use it where it would get wet or might become wet. But then.. I'll state that re-curing these ovens is not something you really want to do and if it gets wet, well, that's what has to be done..



Chris

PS Build it right, build it once!!

[GianniFocaccia]

I am not versed in the rehydration limits of wet premixed mortars. I understand some mortars can handle a rehydration step or two, others none. I do know that if I had used the stuff Frank Dicken sold me on my oven and the bricks started to fall out I would have been really pissed. It was called Sairbond, because it was dry.

[SCChris]

Pissed is a kind term. After all the hard work, to have an oven go to hell, well, that would not be good. If I were to build another, I'd likely go homebrew. We have so many on this site that use it, happly and without issue. I really thought about it hard and because of the unknown I followed local experts from the clay trade and leaned on my early time as a potter. We have a much deeper group of experts on this site to lean on now, than when I started. And I think the general quality of the ovens has risen over the last few years.

Thank you James and all of the rest who mentor!

Chris