Subject: Enameling steel

From: [email-masked] (John Mahoney)
Date: 15 Feb 94 17:35:10 GMT

My friend is a welder who is starting to do some art work with steel and
is wondering what the best way to enamel steel is. He has in mind a kind
of powder which is heated and fuses to the steel, like the enamel on
sinks and tubs. He would like to know the product name and if possible,
a source for it. I said I would try this group and see if I got any
response. Please email me with answers if ya got em. Thanks!
-- 
                    !********************************!
                          J.F.(Jake) Mahoney
                          4223 2nd NW
                          Seattle, WA 98107

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From: [email-masked] (Bill Webster)
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 01:15:20 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (John Mahoney)
> response. Please email me with answers if ya got em. Thanks!

I had my tub repaired once by a plumber.  I asked him what the material was
that he was using.  He said it was a powered porcelain and that I couldn't
buy it anywhere.  Apparently, plumbers pay a pretty hefty union fee to keep
this stuff off the market so the do-it-yourselfers can't put them out
of a job.  Oddly enough, he mixed it with water and cured it with a
hair dryer.  He said not to use the tub for 48 hours.  Well, those little 
dings are still hidden by that excellent repair.  The tub is 6 years old
now. BTW, the powder came in many colors.

Bill Webster ([email-masked])

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From: [email-masked] (David Jenkins)
Date: 17 Feb 1994 10:17:23 GMT

|> In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (John Mahoney)
|> wrote:
|> > 
|> > My friend is a welder who is starting to do some art work with steel and
|> > is wondering what the best way to enamel steel is. He has in mind a kind
|> > of powder which is heated and fuses to the steel, like the enamel on
|> > sinks and tubs. He would like to know the product name and if possible,
|> > a source for it. I said I would try this group and see if I got any
|> > response. Please email me with answers if ya got em. Thanks!
|> > -- 
|> >                     !********************************!

True enamelling is ground glass, perhaps with a binder to stop it
falling off while heating... I don't know for certain though.

Best bet is a book on enamelling from the local library - try in the
"Arts and Crafts" section.

-- 

David Jenkins

* I'd rather be steaming... *

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From: [email-masked] (RICHARD ALLAN JOHNSON)
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 17:20:04 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Bill Webster) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (Bill Webster)
>Subject: Re: Enameling steel
>Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 01:15:20 GMT
	I have seen enamel powders in certain jewelry supply catalogs.  I 
don't remember which or how much but if I remember correctly they were 
basically crushed glass that you mixed with something and heated till it 
melted.  Try calling jewelry supply shops in phone books for info. on 
suppliers.

	Rick

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From: [email-masked] (William )
Date: 18 Feb 94 01:09:02

As other people have mentioned, true enameling uses ground glass, perhaps
mixed with some sort of flux (eg borax) to affect its melting temperatures.
I happened to pick up about 50 colors worth of powdered enamels at a
garage-type sale ($5!!!), and read up on it quite a bit.  Glass enamels
require a pretty high temperature (kiln) to fuse, but nothing that steel
couldn't handle.  In jewrey making, a lot of attention is paid to
maintaining nice colors and the desired degree of transparancy, but the
implication is that pretty much any ground-glass would do, if you are just
looking for a protective coating...

BillW

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From: [email-masked] (John De Armond)
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 94 09:53:18 GMT

>now. BTW, the powder came in many colors.

ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!  Union dues to keep a product off the market?
Where does this stuff come from?  This should make your absurdity
alarm go full tilt immediately.  This stuff is NOT porcelain.
It is a polymer.  An epoxy-type porcelain repair kit is available
off the shelf from Home Depot or any plumbing supply company.  
Real porcelain is a glass which must be fired.  Period.

Metal enamels, which is more likely what the original guy is interested 
in, are also glass-based but fire at a lower temperature and are easier
to use.  They are available in artistic quantities from any number of
jewelry supply sources.  Try Ed Hoy's (check 800 dir assistance).
If he wants real porcelain, tell him to go to the library and look
in the Thomas Register.  There are many suppliers.

John

-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC, Marietta, GA    [email-masked] 
Performance Engineering Magazine.  Email to me published at my sole discretion

Happiness is Clinton's picture on the side of a milk carton.

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From: [email-masked] (william thomas powers)
Date: 18 Feb 1994 08:28:35 -0500

Do not add borax. Borax will make the enamel film more brittle and prone to
spalling as the piece cools. The addition of "soda" is supposed to make a
more tolerant enamel.

I learned this while trying to enamel a knife guard using the early medieval
techniques described by Theophilus in _On Divers Arts_.  I ground; seived
and washed my own enamels, made from stained glass scrap, and used it for
champleve enameling.  (a crucible sideways in the forge was the heat source)
   
The spalling was horrible. I experimented with other glass until I found out
that 1940's brake light lenses worked ok.  I have since been told that
"cheap Mexican handblone glasswear" is a soft high soda glass and should work
as well.  (Theophilus describes how to make your own colored glass as well;
but I'm a blacksmith and founder not a total zany!)

Thomas
Columbus Ohio

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From: [email-masked] (Gray, Albert)
Date: 18 Feb 1994 09:49 CST

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Bill Webster) writes...
>Bill Webster ([email-masked])

There is an artical in Home Mechanix April 1993 about this.  The stuff is 
available from Rhodes America 1-800-621-8934.  I called them for a local
dealer.  They said that most True-Value Hardware stores an Wal-Mart's carry it.
This is the stuff for home use.  It takes about 7 days (yes days) to dry.  The
professional stuff dries in a few hours.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 18 Feb 94 15:50:49 GMT

> looking for a protective coating...

  I may be mistaken, but isn't the coefficient of expansion very important?
in particual WRT matching that of the glasses and the base metals?

  EBo --

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From: [email-masked] (Andy Dingley)
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 1994 17:53:48 +0000

I haven't posted before, because I've only enamelled copper and brass. I
believe the best steel enamels are a different chemical composition and may
need to be handled differently.

Decorative enamelling (for jewellery & similar) is easy. It's done by
scrupulously cleaning the metal (wire wool & no handling with fingers), then
coating the metal with finely powdered glass. Now heat the metal blank until
the glass fuses and leave it to cool *gradually*. Clean the oxide gunk off
the back of the workpiece by acid pickling it. You can't work an enamelled
piece, so do all the shaping beforehand.

Heating may be done with an enamelling kiln, or a gas torch. Domestic ovens
aren't hot enough, and potter's kilns can be tricky. You're trying to fuse
the glass physically, not alter it chemically. Potter's kilns generally have
an actively reducing gas atmosphere (insufficient oxygen) for firing ceramic
glazes and this can cause unwanted colour variations for enamelling. You can
do simple pieces quite well with a gas/blown air torch. Support the piece on
a wire mesh grating and heat it from below. This isn't quite as good for high
quality work and you have to be careful not to blow the unfused enamel powder
off the blank when you first start.

Enamel can be bought from craft shops. It comes in a range of colours and as
opaque, transparent or translucent. Many colours look completely different
after firing, so you need to do a lot of experimentation before really going
for it. Fortunately enamelling is a very quick process, especially if you're
only using simple metal blanks as test pieces.

Making your own enamel is easy, with limits. You aren't going to powder it as
finely as commercial powders, but you're going to melt it all anyway. Fine
powder is only needed if you're trying to get a very thin, even layer on high
quality work. Most glass will work as enamel, although hard glasses can tend
to crack afterwards. Moulded glass, like bottles, seems to work well. I've
crushed glass using a clean vice, with a rag over the top to stop flying
debris. For decorative effect you can use all sorts of stuff; coloured glass
beads are a favourite.

Multi-colour effects can be achieved by sprinkling enamel powder through card
stencils. You can either enamel it once, then add the pattern and re-fire it,
or you can put all the enamel into place and fire it once. A single firing
gives clearer colour boundaries.

Soft lead pencil, second-fired into white enamel under transparent, gives a
nice effect. Feathering or swirling can also be done, using a sharp wire to
draw patterns in the molten glass, usually across a broad pattern of coloured
stripes.

Cloisonne is the practice of forming shapes from loops of copper or brass
wire, then enamelling inside each loop with a different colour.

The process of enamelling both sides is called "counter enamelling". This is
useful when you want both sides enamelled, and also when you want to avoid
the piece warping due to the stress of a single enamelled side. It can be
done by firing the piece twice (tricky) or by simultaneous firing of both
sides. To stop the unfired glaze falling off the underside, it's applied
mixed with a paste of gum arabic. Gum arabic is also used for enamelling
bowls and the like. This sort of thing really needs a kiln, not a gas torch.

Enamelled sinks are done with either porcelain (much harder, only available
as an opaque colour, and requires a potter's kiln or similar) or more modern
ones use an epoxy based paint. These are quite different processes from
decorative enamelling.

If you're after utility more than aesthetic effect, have you considered epoxy
or nylon powder coatings ?

-- 
Andy Dingley   Codesmiths of Newcastle   [email-masked]

Klein bottle for sale.     Apply within.

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From: [email-masked] (John De Armond)
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 94 07:31:03 GMT

>melted.  Try calling jewelry supply shops in phone books for info. on 

I forgot this in my previous post.  Another source of small quantities of
very high quality white and near white enamel and porcelean is the 
dental supply store.  The nice part is it comes with instructions 
that the complete idiot can follow.

John